Past, Present, Prologue
by MistyC
Summary: While raiding an NID base, the members of SG-1 discover an unusual captive, the subject of experimentation and research.
1. Chapter 1

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Title: Past, Present, Prologue

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

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Chapter One

Daniel followed Jack through the maze of corridors, zat at the ready. He spared only a glance for the intricate writing lining the walls, knowing that he could not afford to be distracted now. If the mission went as planned, he would be able to return later to explore this massive complex of ancient temples and support buildings. Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, he saw Jack stop at a cross-corridor and motion for them to split up. Daniel nodded and broke off to follow Sergeant Simmons of SG-15. They had pored over the blueprints of this place in planning the mission, hoping that the intelligence was accurate. Supposedly, there were only a few guards posted on this base, but if there were more than they thought, this could get messy very quickly.

It was not long before they heard the sound of gunfire echoing through the empty hallways. Running footsteps approached their position, and Daniel turned his weapon toward the sound. It was only a second after he saw the stranger round the corner that he fired, sending the soldier crashing to the ground in a crackle of electricity. Listening for any further sounds, Daniel moved to the prone man on the floor while Sergeant Simmons moved to the corner and peeked around, checking that the hallway was empty. He nodded to Daniel, who quickly pulled out a set of plastic flexi-cuffs and bound the man's hands behind his back, then tied his feet together, immobilizing him, before joining Dave again to continue clearing the complex.

After another fifteen minutes of skulking through the corridors, they reached the end of their assigned section. They had taken down two more guards as they went, and luckily both had fallen to the zat's energies, so they had not had to use their backup weapons. Daniel was glad of that, for although he was becoming more accustomed to the violence that seemed to be part of their lives, he never condoned the taking of a life. He looked up as Dave spoke into the radio attached to his vest.

"Beta section clear." The Sergeant listened to the reports from the other teams and then nodded. "Returning to rendezvous point with three prisoners." Nodding to Daniel, he smirked. "Now we just need to drag them back to the others."

Daniel rolled his eyes and sighed. "That second guy looked pretty heavy, too." He turned and headed back the way they came, Dave at his side. When they reached the first of their captives, Daniel bent over and placed his hands underneath the man's arms, walking backwards and dragging the unconscious man as they re-traced their steps. By the time they reached the second prisoner, Daniel had to drop the man to the floor and straighten up. His back popped as he stood upright again and he groaned softly. "He's heavier than he looks."

"Do you want that one?" Dave asked, pointing to the heavier of the two. He knelt down and hauled the man into a sitting position, then pulled him swiftly into a fireman's carry. A grunt escaped his lips as he did so. "OK, he's really no lightweight. We might move quicker if you try carrying yours, too, though."

Daniel had to acknowledge that the marine was right, and pulled the smaller man up and across his own shoulders. "At least we don't have quite as far to go, now." They struggled through the corridors, trying to keep their weapons at the ready in case they had missed someone. When they were almost back to their starting point, Daniel slowed and stopped in front of a locked door. He knelt to place his burden back on the floor and stepped closer to the door.

"Dr. Jackson?" Dave asked, re-tracing his steps to stand beside Daniel and dropping the prisoner to the floor.

"This is the only door like this we've seen," Daniel pointed out. "This place has been here a long time. Any of the original wood doors have long since deteriorated. We've only seen a few modern doors installed here and there, and none of them have been metal." He pointed at the external locks that looked as if they would resist even an enraged Unas. "What do you think they're keeping in there?"

Stepping closer, Daniel touched a metal plate that was mounted on the door with a single screw and it swung easily to the side, revealing a small tinted window. Glancing aside to Sergeant Simmons, he got a raised eyebrow and a shrug in response. Daniel peered in through the window into the room beyond. At first, he couldn't see anything in the darkness. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, and he could just make out a few faint shapes in the room. Along one wall was something that must be a cot, and in the other corner, there was a faint movement. Daniel stared at that corner for several minutes before he made out the shape of the occupant of the locked room.

Reaching to the radio attached to his vest, he keyed it and spoke. "Jack, I think you'd better come see this."

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Heading back toward the entrance, Daniel crouched down beside their first captive, who had come to and was squirming around, trying to break the plastic ties binding him. He glared at Daniel, but didn't speak.

"Hi," Daniel started. "I don't suppose you'd like to tell us just who you have locked in that room back there?" Getting only another glare in response, Daniel shrugged. "Yeah, didn't think so. But since you seemed to be guarding the room just around the corner, I figure you'll have the key to get in. I'm going to need that key."

Reaching forward, Daniel started rifling through the man's pockets, only to have him try to kick Daniel with his bound legs. "Simmons!" Daniel called back over his shoulder. "I could use a little help here."

Sergeant Simmons came around the corner and took in the situation. "He giving you trouble, Daniel?" There was a hint of humor in his voice.

"Just keep him still, would you?" Daniel asked. "I'm sure he has the keys to open the door." Seeing the protest forming on Dave's face, Daniel waved his hand in the air. "I'm not going to open it, but eventually we'll need the keys, correct?"

Simmons nodded and pulled out his zat'ni'katel. "You've got a point."

"You're not going to just shoot him, are you?" Daniel asked. "He's already tied up. It's not like he's going anywhere."

"You want him to hold still don't you?" He shrugged. "It's been long enough since the first shot. I'm pretty sure it won't kill him."

Daniel just shook his head and turned back to the silent man on the ground. "I don't know if I want to risk that. I don't think he'll fight the both of us. Just be ready if he gets rowdy." After a quick search, Daniel retrieved a set of keys from a pocket and stood, nodding to his marine companion. "If you don't mind babysitting, I'm going to head back to the cell and wait for Jack."

"Go ahead," he said, waving Daniel off. "We'll be fine here."

Daniel hurried back to the door and started searching through the keys in his hand, trying to decide which keys might fit the locks. He was holding one key up to the lock when he heard a voice behind him.

"You're not thinking of opening that door, are you Daniel?" Though the voice was light, there was a hint of steel underneath it.

"No, Jack," Daniel said, turning around. "Not until you'd cleared it, but we need to know if we have the right keys, don't we?" He gave Jack an innocent expression that was sure to irritate him.

Jack just rolled his eyes and Daniel had to hide a small grin. "So, what do we have?" Jack asked, stepping up next to Daniel at the door.

"Take a look," Daniel answered, gesturing to the swinging plate over the window on the door.

Jack gave Daniel a sidelong look. "There's nothing in there that's going to grab my head, is there?"

"No, Jack," Daniel said with a sigh. "I'm pretty sure there's no Ancient repository in that window. Just take a look, would you?"

Jack slid the plate aside and looked through the window. "It's dark, Daniel. What am I supposed to see?"

"Just give it a minute," Daniel said. "Look in the right back corner of the room." Jack was silent for a moment as he stared into the room. When he turned back to face Daniel, his face was grim. "OK, Daniel, I saw her. Now what do you want us to do about it?"

"Let her out," Daniel said, staring at Jack. "It's obvious she's not in great shape. Don't you think we ought to get her some help?"

"Damn it, Daniel," Jack said, rubbing a hand over his face. "You know the mission as well as I do. The NID was working on creating super-soldiers. If she's one of their experiments, there's no telling what they've done to her. I can't let her out of there until I'm sure she's not going to start killing everyone in sight."

"She hardly looks like a threat, Jack," Daniel protested, the image of the woman huddled in the corner burned into his memory.

"Neither did Cassandra or Rya'c," Jack retorted.

Daniel sighed, just as frustrated with Jack as Jack apparently was with him. "We're dealing with humans, Jack, not Goa'uld. I doubt they've booby-trapped her."

"You don't think that humans are capable of booby-trapping another human, Daniel? If they really created a super-soldier, do you think they'd want one in enemy hands? Trust me on this, these people could just as easily plant a weapon in another human as any Goa'uld, and without a hint of remorse." Jack's voice was firm, implacable, and Daniel held his tongue. It was obvious that Jack had made up his mind on the matter. The tone of his voice indicated that he was reliving something in his past, and Daniel decided he didn't want to know what that something was.

"Are you just going to leave her in there indefinitely, Jack?" Daniel made sure that his tone of voice was matter-of-fact, not confrontational.

A sigh escaped Jack as he looked back toward the door. "No. We obviously can't do that. Look, Carter is digging through their computers now. We caught the scientists off-guard, so they didn't have time to wipe the data. We'll see what she can find on our mystery guest here. If it turns out that she's not a threat, we'll get her out of there and get her to Frasier. If she's unstable or dangerous, we'll take her out once things are cleaned up a bit here and we have more back-up and a better idea of how to handle her. I'm not just going to leave her here to die, Daniel."

Brushing his hand back over his head, Daniel met Jack's eyes. "I know that, Jack. Glad you have a plan. Do you mind if I stay here until you make a decision?"

Jack looked between the door and Daniel. "No, go ahead and stay here. Just don't unlock that door, all right?"

"You got it," Daniel said, walking over and looking back through the window. He didn't know if she even knew he was there, but he didn't want to leave the woman alone any longer. In the background, he could hear Jack asking for back-up to help escort their prisoners back to the gate.

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Daniel was watching through the window again when a voice emanated from his radio.

"Daniel, I think I found the information you need." Sam sounded pre-occupied, and Daniel imagined that she was scanning through whatever she had found on the computer as she spoke.

"Do you know who she is?" Daniel asked. "Is she one of their experiments?"

"The files I found never refer to her by name, so I don't know who she is, but from all appearances, there's something about her that they want to re-create in their super soldiers. They were apparently mapping her DNA, and running all kinds of tests on her. Daniel, you wouldn't believe the number of drugs they've given to her over the past two weeks. I'm not sure what most of them are, since I'm not a medical doctor, but I would imagine that she's not going to be very coherent, based on the notes I've read here." Her voice shook with anger as she continued. "They were testing her sensory responses to various stimuli, and far too many of them were tests on how she responded to pain. What they've done to her…" Sam's voice broke off, and Jack's voice picked up.

He was apparently in the room with Sam, because Daniel heard Jack more distantly over Sam's radio. "Is she a danger, Carter?"

"She hasn't been altered, sir," Sam responded. "I can't say much more than that. So I wouldn't expect things like super strength, but I don't know anything about her natural abilities."

"Should we approach her?" Jack asked, a faint hint of irritation in his voice. Daniel knew that Jack preferred clear-cut answers to his questions, and Sam wasn't giving him that.

"I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving her locked up any longer, sir. She's obviously a victim here. But I would recommend approaching her with caution. We have no way of knowing how she'll react to someone entering the room. I doubt she's had any pleasant experiences as a result of that door being opened."

"So, do I have a go-ahead?" Daniel asked Jack.

Daniel heard what could have been a faint sigh before Jack turned on his own radio. "Yes, Daniel, we'll go in. But you are not to open that door until I get there. I'm on my way."

"Got it," Daniel said, clicking the radio to respond, then let his hand fall away as he started fingering the keys. Over the last hour while he was waiting to hear from Jack and Sam, he had figured out which keys opened which locks. Thinking that it couldn't hurt to get started, he opened two of the three locks on the door, then leaned against the wall to wait for Jack.

When Colonel O'Neill arrived, he glanced at the opened locks and turned a firm look on the younger man. "Daniel?"

"I didn't open the door," Daniel replied calmly. "I just got a head start on the locks."

Jack narrowed his eyes at the archeologist, who responded by widening his own in a look of innocence. Jack just shook his head and drew his zat gun. "OK, Danny, since you're in such a hurry, go ahead and open the door. But I'll be entering first."

Knowing better than to argue, Daniel fitted the last key in the lock and slowly swung the door open. Jack filled the doorway, weapon held at the ready, and only when there was no reaction from inside did he step aside, nodding at Daniel. "You're on."

Daniel entered the darkened room and walked slowly toward the figure huddled in the corner, her arms resting on her drawn up knees, face buried in her arms. He was aware of Jack entering behind him, taking a position near the door. "Can you get the light, Jack?"

Jack glanced around and found a pull string for the single light bulb in the room. The NID had rigged up electricity from generators when they set up shop in the ruins, and all of the occupied rooms had at least a light bulb. The moment he turned the light on, the woman gave a pained yelp and buried her head deeper in her arms.

"Turn it off," Daniel said, as Jack reached to do just that, putting the room back into near dark.

"I'm sorry," Daniel apologized as he crouched down in front of the woman.

She reacted as badly to his voice as she had to the light, whimpering and clapping her hands over her ears. Daniel remembered what Sam had said about the drugs she had been given, and the tests that had been run on her sensory reactions and winced, realizing that he had inadvertently caused her pain. Not the best way to gain her trust.

"Sorry," he whispered again. There was a little light coming in from the open doorway, and he studied what he could see of her. With her face tucked so tightly in her arms, he could only see the top of her head. Her hair seemed to be brown, maybe shoulder-length, but it was so tangled and dirty that he couldn't be sure of that.

"We're here to help you," Daniel said softly, reaching forward to touch her shoulder. When she flinched back, he quickly withdrew his hand. "OK, I won't touch you. But I need to know how to help you. I promise I won't turn on the light again. Can you look at me? Can you tell me how to help you?"

There was no answer for a long time, so Daniel decided to try again. "My name is Daniel. The man by the door is Jack. We're going to take you out of here, try to get you back home. Can you tell me your name, where your home is?"

For a long moment, Daniel thought she was never going to answer. Then suddenly, she reached out and grabbed hold of his wrist. He jerked in surprise at the motion, and was amazed at the strength in her grip as she maintained her hold on him.

"Daniel?" Jack asked, the word a warning and a question.

Daniel always wondered how Jack could convey so much in just saying his name, but put the thought aside and held up his free hand. "It's ok, Jack. We're fine." He relaxed his arm and felt her fingers circle his wrist until they came to rest over the pulse point located there.

"You sure, Daniel?" He could hear Jack behind him, moving closer, likely into a better position to shoot if he thought she was a threat to Daniel.

"Yes, Jack," Daniel said patiently. He noted the tensing of her hand every time they spoke and realized that their exchange was louder than the woman was comfortable with. He lowered his voice again. "How can I help you?"

Slowly, her movements stiff, she raised her head up to look at him, and Daniel studied her face in the dim light. She seemed young, maybe in her twenties, and her eyes were wide, wild, the pupils so dilated that there was almost no hint of her iris. Now he knew why the light had bothered her so badly. The expression in those glazed eyes was wariness, distrust, and Daniel couldn't blame her. "Home?" Her voice was hoarse, slow, pained, and it seemed that each word was an effort for her.

"Yes," Daniel said, feeling as if her eyes were boring into him as he answered. "The people who were running this… lab, are in custody and are not going to hurt you again. We're going to take you home, if you'll let us help you."

For a long moment, she studied his face, and Daniel thought she was cataloguing each and every one of his reactions, looking for the truth. As she did, her eyes grew unfocused and she seemed to drift away for a moment before blinking and staring at him in confusion. With a shake of her head, she seemed to remember what was happening.

A short nod seemed to indicate that she had decided to trust him, but she didn't let go of his wrist, though her grip did loosen. Her gaze drifted back to Jack, and Daniel saw her eyes widen in surprise, then drift downward. He was shocked to see the hatred that flared in her eyes as she did. He looked back and followed the direction of her gaze to see the zat in Jack's hands.

"Uh, Jack. I think you should put that zat away."

"I don't think that would be a good idea, Daniel," Jack's tone of voice made it clear that he didn't trust the woman still clutching Daniel's arm.

"She's not a threat, Jack. And I think she's very aware of what a zat is and what it does. I don't think she likes them." From the look in her eyes, that was an understatement.

"Bast… sho' me," her words were slurred, but she managed to relay her feelings on the subject quite well.

Jack stared at her for a moment before nodding and putting the weapon away.

Daniel turned his attention back to her, and her eyes slowly drifted back to his face. "Can you tell me your name?"

She shook her head.

Daniel waited for something more, but when there was no response, he tried to get more information. "Do you mean you can't tell us your name, or you won't?"

"danger…"

"Dangerous?" he jumped on her words. "Dangerous to whom?"

"Me," she answered, looking down at her arms.

Following her gaze, Daniel saw raw red marks circling her wrists. Restraint marks. A surge of anger welled up in him that people were capable of this. "Fair enough," he allowed, forcing his anger aside as her gaze shot up to meet his. "You don't have to tell me your full name. Will you tell us your first name? I'd like to have something to call you."

She stared at him for a long moment before responding, her gaze going distant again before she came back to herself and bowed her head, "Megan."

"Megan," Daniel repeated her name. "Good. Now Megan, we need to take you out of here. Do we need to call for medical help to do that?"

"No," Megan said, struggling to pull her thoughts together enough to speak. "Can walk… too bright, loud."

That was the most he had heard from her, and Daniel thought about what Sam had told him, and Megan's reactions to the light and their voices. "OK, let's see what we can do about that." After thinking about it a moment, he reached into his pocket and withdrew a pair of wraparound sunglasses. He extended them toward her. For a moment she simply stared blankly at him, then she slowly reached out and took the glasses from his hand, carefully putting them into place. She looked toward the doorway, as if to check how well the glasses blocked the light.

"Better?" Daniel asked. A short jerky nod was the only response she gave. "Good. Let's see what we can do about the noises. I should have some earplugs in here somewhere." He patted down his pockets with his free hand and found the packet of earplugs. Tearing it open, he put the earplugs in her hand, and she withdrew her hand from his wrist long enough to roll the foam plugs and put them securely in her ears.

"How's that?" Daniel spoke in a more normal voice, and was pleased when she didn't flinch at the volume. "Did it work?" When she nodded, he looked back at Jack briefly before focusing on her again. "Ready to try standing?" He stood and offered her his hand.

She looked at it for a moment before placing her hand in his and allowing him to help her up. When she swayed on her feet, Daniel reached out a hand to support her, but she swatted his hand away, grabbing onto his arm to steady herself. "OK," he said. "I get it. Don't worry, we'll play this your way."

"What's that all about?" Jack asked, as Megan slowly gained her balance by holding on to both of Daniel's arms.

"She's establishing the rules, Jack," Daniel explained. "We're not supposed to touch her. If she needs help with something, we can offer it, but it's up to her to accept it." He looked back at Megan. "Is that right?"

She nodded slightly, taking one hand off his arm and waggling it back and forth in a way that Daniel interpreted as meaning he was close before tilting her head toward the door.

"And it seems she would like to leave now," he said. "Can't say I blame you," he added in an aside to her. She kept a firm grip on his arm with both hands, using it as a support as Daniel started leading her toward the door.


	2. Chapter 2

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Title: Past, Present, Prologue

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

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Chapter Two

Their progress was slow as they left the cell behind since the former captive was unable to move more quickly than a shuffle through the doors and out into the corridor. She was leaning heavily on Daniel, and he felt her hands tighten on his arm a moment before Teal'c walked around the corner to them.

Megan shuffled back from Teal'c, tugging on Daniel's arm to pull him away. Hearing her breathing quicken, and what sounded suspiciously like a growl, Daniel put his hand over one of hers, holding his ground. "It's all right. He's a friend. Megan, this is Teal'c. He's on our team." For a long moment, she stared at Teal'c, her gaze never wavering. Daniel watched her expression morph from panic to confusion as her breathing slowly resumed a more normal pattern.

"Wrong," she whispered, glancing from Teal'c to Daniel and back.

Not sure what she meant, Daniel tried to reassure her again. "Don't worry, he's no danger to you." Daniel glanced up at the Jaffa. "Teal'c, this is Megan. Megan, this is Teal'c."

Teal'c inclined his head toward her. She nodded back, which was all she was capable of, or so Daniel thought.

"So, what's up, T?" Jack asked, as Teal'c turned to face him. "How's Carter doing?"

Megan's body jerked slightly as Jack asked about Sam, and Daniel turned to watch her expression more closely. She had seemed surprised by Jack's question, though he wasn't sure why.

"Major Carter is still occupied with the computer systems," Teal'c responded. "She is assisting the other scientists in packing the systems up for transport back to the SGC."

Jack nodded. "I wouldn't expect anything different. Have all the prisoners been sent back to base?"

"All but one, O'Neill," Teal'c answered. "Major Simmons has asked that the scientist in charge of the facility be held back. He thinks that Dr. Barras may be of assistance."

"Why would he think that anyone involved in this mess would be willing to help us?" Jack asked, though he clearly did not expect an answer. With a sigh, Jack rubbed his hand back over his hair and strode down the hallway, calling back over his shoulder as he walked. "We'll meet you in the entryway, Daniel. I have to go take care of something. Teal'c, with me."

As they left, Daniel could feel the tension radiating from the woman at his side. He thought he knew what had prompted the reaction. "Don't worry, Megan. No one is going to hurt you again. I promise you're safe. It's not too much further to the exit, then we'll be able to get you to the base and get you some medical attention." Her head turned to him, and even through the sunglasses, he could feel the heat of her gaze. "Proper medical care," he re-iterated. "Nothing more, you have my word."

She lowered her head and nodded abruptly, loosening her grip on his arm, though not letting go. One hand remained where it had been from the start, firmly over the pulse point in his wrist. A tug on his arm indicated she was ready to move on, and Daniel led her down the hallway to the entryway where several marines milled about, standing guard over the lone prisoner and packing up boxes of equipment to take back to the SGC.

As they entered the room, Daniel couldn't help but stare at the prisoner standing to one side of the room, guarded by two of the marines. He looked like any number of scientists Daniel had met over the years, not like the type of person who would hold innocent women captive. But he had apparently noticed them as well. As the captive turned his attention toward them, Daniel felt Megan's grip tighten on his arm, and her breathing become uneven and raspy. But unlike her reaction to Teal'c in the hallway, she didn't try to pull Daniel away. Her hands were trembling, and he didn't think it was due to fear this time. Glancing aside, he could see the rage suffusing her face.

A look of disgust crossed Dr. Barras' face, and before Daniel knew what was happening, Megan had launched herself away from him and toward their captive. As she reached him, she drew back her arm and delivered a right hook to Dr. Barras' face, followed by a palm thrust into his chest with a leg sweep, dropping him heavily to the ground. Though her movements were less than graceful in her current condition, Daniel could tell that she was well trained in the martial arts. Her unexpected moves had caught everyone off-guard, but as she started to drop down on the doctor's chest, her hands extended toward his throat, Jack quickly stepped up behind her and wrapped his arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides and hauling her bodily away from the man on the floor.

Megan gave a sharp cry of pain, and nearly shrieked the words, "Let me go, let me go, letmego." Her words ran into each other, barely audible as separate words. Stunned at the reaction, Jack dropped her to the ground, where she curled up into a ball on her elbows and knees, her forehead resting on the ground. The only sounds in the room for a shocked moment were the sounds of her harsh breathing as she tried to get herself under control.

"What the hell was that about?" Jack asked, staring down at the woman at his feet.

"That would be the result of a failed experiment," the doctor answered, sitting up and holding a hand to his nose, which was bleeding from the hit he'd taken. "She is completely unable to bear anyone touching her." He glared at Megan. "You could never be a front-line soldier. Your genetic abnormalities are more a liability than an advantage. All that research, wasted."

The rhythm of Megan's breathing changed, and Daniel realized with shock that she was chuckling. She slowly pushed herself to a sitting position and gazed at the doctor, her face tear-streaked, a bitter smirk on her face. "Could… have told you that. All… had to do… was ask. It could have saved you a lot of work and me a lot of pain." Her words became clearer as she spoke and her breathing evened out.

"Ah, so you're coherent again, are you?" he asked. "How did you do that? You're so out of control that you'd be huddled back in that room without the sunglasses and earplugs. I haven't heard a complete sentence from you in days. And now you can speak? How?" He seemed intrigued by her, still regarding her as a subject to be studied.

"How I work or don't work has never been any concern of yours," Megan said, glaring at him. "And just to let you know, I'm still barely hanging onto control, even with the earplugs and glasses. But I'm thrilled that you consider me unsuitable to be a soldier. The last thing I would want to do is help the type of people who make it a practice to kidnap and torture innocent civilians."

"I would hardly call it torture," Dr. Barras protested.

"Then what would you call it?" Megan tossed back at him, "electro-shock therapy?" Her eyebrows were raised above the edges of the sunglasses in disbelief.

"Science," the doctor retorted.

Megan shook her head sadly. "Science with no ethical guidance isn't progress. This is hardly the mark of a civilized society." She held up her arm to indicate the restraint marks.

He narrowed his eyes and glared at her. "So you keep saying. Ah, I've missed our debates on science and philosophy. I did think it was a pity when you were unable to carry on a conversation any longer."

"And where does the blame lie for that?" she asked.

Daniel noticed that her voice was starting to shake and a sheen of sweat covered her face. He looked to Jack and nodded toward Megan. Jack nodded back that he understood and moved in between Megan and her former captor. "That's enough. Simmons, get him out of here. I want him back to the base ASAP. When you get there, get Frasier on the horn. I need to talk to her."

"Yes, sir," Simmons replied, saluting Jack, then reaching down and placing a hand under the doctor's arm, pulling him to his feet. "Come on, doctor. Time to go." Without a backward glance, he escorted the doctor out the door.

Daniel crouched down in front of Megan. "You could barely string two words together five minutes ago. What happened?"

Megan took a deep breath, working on controlling her breathing. "It's just temporary," she said. "If I focus on the pain, I can use it to cut through the fog." She gestured toward her head. "But when the adrenaline fades…" Her breathing grew rougher and she lowered her head back to gaze at the floor. "I'm losing it," she whispered. "Can't keep hold." Raising her head to meet Daniel's eyes, she pled, "Just take me home. Please."

"We're going to do that," Daniel assured her. "We only have to go about half a mile to get you back to base. I don't think you're going to be able to walk that far, are you?"

"She won't need to walk, Daniel," Jack said. "She can ride on one of the cargo transports." His radio burst into static before a voice sounded. "Colonel O'Neill, this is Dr. Frasier. You wanted to speak to me?"

"Yeah, hold on a minute Doc," Jack answered, keying the radio. He nodded at Daniel and Megan before walking away to talk in a more private setting. Daniel couldn't make out the words, but assumed that Jack was telling her about the patient they were bringing her.

Daniel stood and gestured for Megan to stay. "I'll go check if there's a transport ready. Will you be all right here?"

"Go," she said, waving a hand toward him, making no attempt to try to move.

"I'll be right back," Daniel said, heading to the doorway to see what transport carts were available. There was a mechanized cart loaded with computer equipment, but there was enough room for someone to sit toward the back. "Hey, you can stop loading this one," he told the marines carrying over more equipment. "We'll take this back to the gate with us."

"You got it, Dr. Jackson."

Daniel went back inside and approached Jack, who was just wrapping up his conversation with Frasier. He saw Daniel and held up a finger asking him to wait. "Yeah, Doc. We're on our way. See you in a few." The radio cut out and Jack turned his attention to Daniel. "Frasier will be waiting in the gate room for us. Is she ready to go?" He tilted his head toward Megan.

"Should be," Daniel said. "There's room on the transport outside, so we just need to get her there." Turning back, he saw that Megan was curled back up on the floor in a fetal position. "That's not a good sign," he murmured, crossing back over to crouch down beside her again.

"Megan? Are you still with us?"

She stirred weakly and turned her head to look up at him. "For now." Her eyes drifted closed, and she forced them back open, her head drooping.

"We have a transport just outside the door. Can you make it that far?" He thought about offering to carry her out there, but after having seen her reaction to being grabbed by Jack, he had a feeling he knew what her answer would be to that.

Her movements were sluggish as she slowly pushed herself into a sitting position. "Help," she asked softly, holding her hands out toward him. Daniel took her hands and pulled her up to her feet, and supported her as best he could to the transport, where he helped her take a seat among the boxes. He looked up as Jack approached.

"I think we're ready to go, Jack."

Jack looked up to the doorway where Teal'c stood watching them. "T, I want you to keep things moving along. Keep an eye on things here, all right? I'll be back shortly."

"It will be done as you wish," Teal'c said, inclining his head and turning to go back inside the temple.

Jack picked up the controller for the cart and started it moving toward the gate. Daniel walked along beside the cart, keeping an eye on Megan. She was leaning up against one of the boxes, barely moving. Her face was turned up to the sky, and Daniel wasn't sure if her eyes were open underneath the sunglasses until she murmured the word, "Zeus."

"Excuse me?" Daniel asked, confused. "Did you just say Zeus?"

A slight grin curved her lips as she twitched a finger to point toward the sky. "Not Jupiter." Daniel looked upward and saw the gas giant planet filling the sky above them. P4X-585 was a moon orbiting a large planet that did resemble Jupiter.

"So if it's not Jupiter, it must be Zeus?" Daniel asked with a return grin. He liked the way she thought.

"Daniel, what are you two talking about?" Jack asked, not following their conversation. Daniel couldn't blame him, really. Megan's part of this was more like a half-conversation.

"That planet up there looks like Jupiter, right?" Daniel asked. Jack gave it a brief look.

"Yeah, so what?"

"So, Megan just pointed out that it wasn't Jupiter, so she named it Zeus. It's the Greek name for the king of the gods while Jupiter is the Roman name."

"Oooh, kayyy," Jack drawled, dragging out the sound. "All that tells me is that the two of you find humor in the oddest things." Jack turned back to the trail, shaking his head.

Daniel grinned down at Megan. The grin slipped away as he saw a shudder go through her. "Are you all right?"

"Cold," she whispered, pulling her arms in closer to her body, curling up as best she could in the confined space.

"It's not much further," Daniel assured her as they rounded a bend in the path and the Stargate came into view, standing at the end of a tree-lined boulevard.

Megan straightened up a little as she caught sight of the gate. "Wow," she whispered.

"Wait till you see what comes next," Daniel said, stepping up to the DHD and dialing home. Megan jumped in surprise as the gate burst into life and the wormhole surged outward, then settled back into a rippling pond.

Megan stared at the gate, her mouth open in shock, and when Daniel came back and offered her his hand, she allowed him to take her hand and tug her back to her feet without taking her eyes off of the sight before her. "Home is right through there," Daniel said, pulling her up the steps to the platform holding the gate. Megan shook her head, a tremor of fear running through her body.

"It will be fine. I promise. We've done this more times than I can count," Daniel reassured her. When they stood in front of the gate, Daniel reached out a hand and trailed his fingers through the event horizon of the wormhole. "See? Are you ready?"

Megan took a deep breath and nodded, and Daniel tugged her slowly forward and into the gate. After a moment that seemed both infinite and infinitesimal, they emerged from the wormhole into the gate room of the SGC. As soon as they did, Daniel felt Megan stiffen. He turned just in time to see her start to fall forward. Not knowing what else to do, he caught her and lowered her to the ramp. "Medical emergency," he called. He was barely aware of Jack stepping through the gate nearly on top of them as Dr. Frasier raced to the top of the ramp to check her new patient.

Daniel stepped back as Dr. Frasier and the other medics swarmed around Megan, checking vitals, and looking for any reason for her collapse. He watched as Janet removed the sunglasses from Megan's face and shone a flashlight into her eyes to check pupil response. Remembering her earlier reaction, he winced, nearly expecting her to lash out. There was no response from Megan though, and that just worried Daniel all the more.

"Pupil response normal," Janet announced as Megan's pupils contracted in response to the light. "A little sluggish, though."

"Green," Daniel murmured.

"What was that?" Jack asked, watching the activity from beside him.

"Her eyes. They're green," Daniel answered. "I couldn't tell before."

"Um, hmm." Jack didn't seem to be listening, but Daniel was used to that from him.

The medics lifted her and placed her on a gurney, carrying it down the ramp, then lowering the wheels and pushing it toward the infirmary. Dr. Frasier looked back at Jack and Daniel. "I need to know everything you know about her. Walk with me."

Daniel and Jack didn't hesitate to do as told. As they hurried down the hallways, Daniel told her everything he had observed about Megan, and every word she had said. They had reached the infirmary by the time he finished, and Frasier helped the medics settle her in a bed and hook up an IV. "I can't give her anything until I know what drugs are already in her system," Frasier said. "Do either of you know what she was given?"

With a helpless shrug, Daniel shook his head. "Sorry. I don't have any idea."

"Colonel?" she asked, turning to Jack.

He reached into a pocket and withdrew a thumb drive. "Carter downloaded her file before we opened the door. This is everything we could find."

"That will most certainly help," she said, taking the drive and passing it off to a nurse. "Open that file and tell me what I need to know." She turned her attention back to Daniel and Jack. "And now I have a patient to tend. If you'll excuse me."

After a moment of watching the activity, Jack tugged on Daniel's jacket. "Come on, let's give them room to work."

Giving the room a last backward glance, Daniel followed Jack out of the infirmary. As they were approaching the gate room, General Hammond caught up with them. "How is our visitor, gentlemen?"

"Janet's taking care of her," Daniel said. "But she seemed to be in pretty bad shape."

"I want a full debrief. I want to know what was going on in that lab!" General Hammond seemed quite perturbed about this mission. Daniel was about to answer, but Jack beat him to it.

"If you'll allow it, I'd like to return to the moon and finish up the mission, sir." Jack looked back toward the gate room. "We don't really have that many answers yet. It will take time for Frasier and Carter to go through all the computer records. All we really know is that they thought the woman back there could help them create a super-soldier, but then changed their minds."

Hammond took a moment to mull it over, then nodded. "Very well, Colonel. But I'll want a debrief once you're all back here. We'll go over what you do know, even if it isn't much."

"Of course, sir," Jack said. "It shouldn't take much longer to close the place down and haul all the equipment back here. Daniel, you coming?"

Daniel glanced back toward the infirmary. He felt responsible for Megan, and should stay here, but she was certainly in capable hands with Frasier. There wasn't much more he could do for her, if he were to stay anyway. And he hadn't really gotten to explore the secrets of that temple, either. All he had on video were the few hallways and rooms near where Megan was being held. An hour certainly wasn't a lot of time to explore such an intriguing site. He weighed the ideas in his head long enough for Jack to start looking irritated, and made up his mind. "Yeah. I do want to get another look at that temple. And it's not like there's much I can do here, anyway."

With a nod to the General, they turned and headed back to the gate room to finish their mission.


	3. Chapter 3

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Summary: While raiding an NID base, the members of SG-1 discover an unusual captive, the subject of experimentation and research.

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

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Chapter Three

As soon as the equipment from the off-world base was packed up and brought back to the SGC, Major Carter set up one of the computers in a lab and started reading as much as she could. Daniel stopped by the infirmary to check on Megan and found that there was no change in her condition. Taking his video camera, he retreated to his office to see what he could make of the writings on the wall of the temple.

Several hours had passed before a hand waved in front of him, interrupting his concentration. Looking up, he saw Jack standing on the other side of the table. "Do you ever knock like a normal person?" he asked, glaring at Jack.

"I did," Jack answered, frowning back.

"Sorry," Daniel replied, rubbing his eyes. "I'm a little tired. Is there something I can do to help you?" he asked patiently.

"Hammond's called for a briefing in 20 minutes," Jack said, picking up an artifact that had been discovered on P3X-298 and turning it over in his hands.

Reaching to take the artifact out of Jack's hands, Daniel sighed. "OK, I suppose I could use a break from this, anyway. So," he asked as he stood up, "has anyone made any progress on finding out more about Megan?"

"Not that I've heard," Jack replied, leading the way down the hallway. "Maybe we'll learn something at the briefing."

Daniel tilted his head in acknowledgment and fell silent as they made their way to the briefing room.

As they took their seats, they saw that Dr. Frasier had joined the meeting.

"OK, people. What happened out there? How did we end up with a visitor?" Hammond asked, looking toward Jack.

"The mission went as planned," O'Neill started. "The layout of the facility was just like we'd been told. We took them by surprise, and there were only a few injuries on their side, none on ours." Jack proceeded to talk through the details of the mission for the General, then came to the part dealing with Megan. "Daniel noticed a locked door near one of the guards he and Simmons took down, and to our surprise, there was a young woman being held captive. Carter dug around in their computers until she found out that they were studying the woman. I guess they thought there was something about her they wanted in their super-soldiers. Carter said she didn't seem to be a threat, so we went in and brought her out."

"What do we know about her?" General Hammond asked.

"From talking to her, we can figure out a few things," Daniel said. "She's an American, she's a civilian, and she doesn't want us to know who she is."

"So you've narrowed it down to a female in the US who hasn't joined the military?" Jack asked skeptically. "Wow, we should be able to figure out who she is easily, now."

Daniel rolled his eyes, waving a hand in the air to dismiss Jack's negativity. "At least we know she's from Earth, which begs the question, how did they get her off-world? They didn't go through our gate, that's for sure."

"They have a stolen cargo ship," Carter put in. "I found references to this ship in the computers, but it wasn't anywhere in the area of the base. I'd like to send a UAV through the gate just to search a larger area for it. There are also several personnel unaccounted for. I'm assuming that we'll find them with the ship."

"Is there anything in the computer to indicate where they might have gone if they're not on the moon?" Hammond asked, turning to Carter.

"Yes, and that's what has me worried," she said, looking down at the folder in front of her. "There are notes in the files about Megan not having what they wanted, and a decision to go after a secondary target who might provide what they're looking for. If we don't find them soon, they might kidnap someone else. They apparently thought she would be the easier target, but they also had someone else in mind."

"I don't suppose there's anything in the files about who this second target might be?" General Hammond asked.

"No sir," Carter said apologetically. "They were careful throughout their files to not use any identifying details. Megan is referred to as 'subject one' or other such identifiers. There is no clue in the computers as to the identities of either subject."

Hammond nodded, then turned to Frasier. "Have you made any progress on finding out who she is?"

Dr Frasier shook her head. "Not yet. We're running her fingerprints now, but we already know she didn't join the military, so if she doesn't have a criminal record, we're not sure how likely we are to get a hit. My people are under orders to contact me the moment they get anything."

"Has there been any change in her condition?" Daniel asked, feeling guilty that he hadn't stopped by to check on her.

Frasier shook her head. "Afraid not. We can't find any physical reason for her state, either. She seems to be in a catatonic state. Her muscles are tense, not relaxed as if in sleep or unconsciousness. Of course, the mix of drugs she's been given were never meant to be combined, so it could be a reaction to one or the other. I can't do much to help her other than push saline and keep her hydrated. I don't dare introduce one more chemical into her system." She shook her head, her voice tight with restrained anger. "The computer records Sam gave me had a complete list of what was done to Megan. Some of the drugs given to her were the types of drugs used in interrogations; meant to disorient, cause hallucinations, keep the person unsure of what's real and what's illusion. Others were meant to cause pain and do nothing else. With the mix she's been given, even though the last dose was over a day ago, I am shocked that you were able to hold any kind of conversation with her at all." She directed the last comment to Daniel.

"She said that she could focus on the pain and use it to cut through the fog caused by the drugs," Daniel said with a shrug.

"That's not the kind of thing just anyone could do," Dr. Frasier said. "That's the type of thing people learn in Special Forces training. Are you sure she isn't in the military?"

"She referred to herself as a civilian, and the doctor said that she could never be a soldier," Daniel reminded them. "So I don't think she has any military experience."

"But she's obviously well trained at self-defense," Jack pointed out, a note of admiration in his voice. "She took Dr. Barras down pretty easily, despite her condition. And the doc is right. The skills she mentioned are the type people are taught to help withstand torture and interrogation. There's more going on here than we're aware of."

At that moment, there was a knock on the door. When General Hammond granted admission, one of Dr. Frasier's med techs opened the door and handed her a tablet computer with a file open on screen. "Doctor? We got a hit on her fingerprints. Apparently she had a government background check for a job, and her fingerprints were recorded then."

"Thank you," Frasier said, taking the pad and dismissing the tech. Once the door was closed, she began reading from the computer. "It seems our visitor goes by the name Megan Carter."

"Any relation?" Jack asked, looking aside at Major Carter.

"Not that I'm aware of," she answered with a wry smile. "Carter is a fairly common name, sir."

"But now we know why she reacted with surprise when you asked about Sam," Daniel put in.

Frasier cleared her throat and glared the others into silence before continuing. "She lives in Cascade, Washington, and works for a branch of the Phoenix Foundation there."

"Phoenix Foundation?" Jack asked, impressed. "I've worked with some people from there on occasion. I even have a distant cousin who works there. Or at least, last I heard, Mac was still with them. They've been responsible for some important missions, getting information across borders, developing new technologies, and things like that. I think they've had some contracts with the DoD. Does it say what she does for them? It could explain the training we think she had. They've hired some ex-government agents in the past, one of them could have trained her."

Scanning the forms, Frasier shook her head. "No, the information here is pretty minimal. Name, place of work, address; a little bit of personal information." Her brow wrinkled as she read. "Apparently, she's married and has a three month old child at home."

"How could someone kidnap a mother with such a small child?" Daniel asked, outraged. The thought of what her husband and family must be going through turned his stomach, and he couldn't help but think about how he felt after Sha're was taken.

"Is there anything listed on her husband?" Jack asked, obviously thinking along the same lines. "We should probably give him a call and let him know she's here. I'm sure he's out of his mind with worry by now."

"There's not a lot here, just his name and occupation. He's a detective with the Cascade Major Crimes unit by the name of Blair Sandburg."

"Sandburg?" Jack asked, confused. "I thought you said her name was Carter?"

"It looks like she goes by her maiden name," Frasier said with a shrug.

"Sandburg?" Daniel asked, a jolt of recognition making him sit up straighter in his seat. "Are you sure it says Blair Sandburg?"

"Yes," Frasier said, staring at Daniel. "Do you know him?"

"Maybe," Daniel said, mind racing. "But the Blair I know is an anthropology student, or at least he was when I met him. I doubt he'd go into law enforcement." He started putting together what he knew of Blair and what he'd seen of Megan. "But it could explain a lot." He stood up and headed for the door, needing to get to his computer to research this. He had completely forgotten the others were in the room and that he hadn't been dismissed until he heard the voice behind him.

"Daniel! Where are you going?" Jack asked, in an aggrieved tone of voice.

Turning back to face the others, Daniel shook his head impatiently, cutting a hand through the air to emphasize his point. "I need to look into this. If he is who I think he is, it will explain everything. I need to find out if I'm right." He turned to Janet. "Just in case, I'd like to suggest a few things. You need to reduce any sensory input in Megan's environment. Lower the lights, mute the sounds on any machines around her, and do everything you can to make it a soothing environment." With that, he turned on his heels and opened the door.

"Daniel!" Jack exclaimed again, apparently frustrated with him. Daniel didn't have the time to explain what was going through his head and didn't want to say anything until he was sure, so he just waved a hand at Jack and disappeared down the hallway to his office.

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Daniel was busy searching through the Internet when Sam silently entered his office, took a chair and set up her laptop at the table next to him. When he looked sideways at her, she just grinned. "Two heads are better than one, right?" He gave her a grin in return and nodded, looking back to his computer. For a long time, they were silent, conducting their research alone. Daniel opened a file with a video clip of a press conference given by Blair Sandburg, anthropology graduate student.

It was definitely the student Daniel had known so long ago, but Daniel had discovered that in his earlier research. Shaking his head in disbelief, Daniel watched as his friend repudiated his doctoral dissertation, declaring himself a fraud. Daniel didn't believe a word of it, especially after having met Megan. He felt a touch on his hand and turned to find Sam watching him. "That wasn't the end of the story," she said, pointing to a file she'd found in the Cascade court archives. After skimming it, Daniel nodded.

"Are we ready to tell the others what we found?" he asked her, glancing at her computer to see the files she'd found. Some of them matched his, but not all.

"I think so," she said, resting her chin on her hands. "The story looks pretty clear to me."

Sam notified the General, the rest of SG-1 and Dr. Frasier that they had found more information on Megan and her husband while Daniel downloaded some of the pertinent files to Sam's laptop.

When everyone was gathered in the briefing room again, Daniel leaned forward on the table, starting the story the only place that made sense, the beginning. "I met Blair Sandburg years ago, long before I'd ever heard of the Stargate, when I was just an archeologist trying to get people to believe theories that seemed more like sci-fi than reality. I wasn't saying anything about aliens at the time, but I was trying to convince others that the pyramids were a lot older than anyone had thought, which was tantamount to turning accepted theories on their heads. Needless to say, most people weren't buying. But there was this one kid, a graduate student, who attended a lecture of mine at a conference and sat in the front row, listening with rapt attention. Since most people were scoffing, or not listening at all, he caught my attention. He came up after the lecture and started asking all kinds of questions. He was obviously very intelligent, and his questions showed an openness to unbelievable possibilities. We had a coffee, and started talking. It turns out that he was researching something not quite accepted by mainstream culture, either. He was looking for a Sentinel, a person with enhanced senses." His eyes went to Janet when he heard her tapping her pen on the table.

"Enhanced senses? You think he found what he was looking for," she said, "that Megan is a Sentinel."

"It makes sense," Sam said, drawing the attention away from Daniel. "They were after a genetic advantage for their super-soldiers. Enhanced senses would certainly seem to be an advantage. Just imagine what it would mean for surveillance. No technical help needed to eavesdrop on a conversation between two targets, overhear a phone conversation between terrorists, or watch a drop going down from hundreds of yards away. Who wouldn't want soldiers with that capability?"

Clearing his throat, Daniel pointed out one downside. "Yes, but if someone had an army of Sentinels, would anyone in their vicinity ever have their privacy again? It would be the equivalent of having phone taps on every phone or bugs in every home. As soon as anyone became a 'person of interest', their rights to privacy would go right out the window. There would be no need for a court order, because they wouldn't have to enter the house, wouldn't have to put a tap on their phone. All they'd have to do is have someone stationed nearby when the person makes a phone call, or meets a friend."

Jack shook his head. "I wouldn't expect this kind of paranoia from you, Daniel. You know the US government doesn't work that way."

A snort escaped before Daniel could stop it. "The same government that's been keeping the Stargate secret for years, you mean?" But then he waved away the remark, and any reaction Jack might have. "That's not who I was referring to, anyway. Remember, it's the NID that's trying to use the DNA of a Sentinel to enhance people, not exactly the good guys here."

Jack looked away and shrugged a shoulder, indicating that Daniel had a point. "So how would the NID have found out about this Sentinel stuff?" he asked. "I haven't heard anything about it."

Taking a deep breath, Daniel started explaining what he and Sam had found. "Apparently, Megan isn't the only Sentinel Blair found, she wasn't even the first. In 1996, Blair Sandburg started working with a Detective in the Major Crimes Division in Cascade, WA. The paperwork listed him as a ride-along researching the sub-culture of police departments assigned to Jim Ellison. I believe that he discovered that Detective Ellison was a Sentinel and managed to get him to agree to let him tag along."

"Wait," Jack said, holding up a hand to halt the flow of information. "Jim Ellison of the Army Rangers? I read an article about him years ago. He was the only survivor of a helicopter crash in the jungle somewhere."

"Peru," Daniel answered with a nod. "I think that his senses helped him survive that time. He survived by taking refuge with a tribe of natives, and they would have been more inclined to accept his senses as the gifts they are. Anyway, police records indicate that he was on a difficult case, trying to track down a bomber back in 1996 when he started having sensory trouble. He saw a few doctors, but any visits or complaints stopped after Blair appeared as his ride-along. I can only assume that Blair was able to explain to the detective what was going on and to help him cope with his senses."

"If he used the senses in Peru, why would they bother him years later when he came back?" Hammond asked, beating Jack to the punch, judging by Jack's expression.

"I don't really know," Daniel had to admit. "He was seeing an army appointed psychiatrist after his return, but the records are, of course, sealed. I'm sure a helicopter crash and eighteen months spent in the jungle was a traumatic experience. Maybe he repressed it and the senses and he didn't know what was happening when they came back years later. You understand that I'm just guessing here, trying to come up with a theory that fits what little we do know."

"Understood," Hammond nodded at him. "Continue."

"Anyway, after Blair joined as an observer, Det. Ellison's arrest record soared. I could only get general statistics, but it looks like the pair was assigned all the high-profile and most dangerous assignments. Things went on like that for about three years, but in 1999, there was a fervor in the media about a dissertation titled 'The Sentinel'. It seemed that a publisher leaked excerpts from an unverified dissertation attributed to Sandburg. In it, it was pretty clear that Jim Ellison was this Sentinel, the subject of three years worth of research. The story broke while we were off-world. The media attention lasted for a few days, apparently causing a lot of problems with a case they were working, and an assassin fired into the Major Crimes offices, seriously wounding their captain and another officer. Shortly after that, Blair held a press conference declaring the dissertation a fraud, effectively ending his academic aspirations and destroying his credibility."

"You don't believe it," Hammond said gently, seeing the expression on his face and sensitive to the fact that Daniel and Blair were friends.

"No sir," Daniel answered firmly. "First off, Blair is one of the most intelligent students I've come across. Even if he never found a Sentinel, he could easily turn around and find another subject to write a dissertation on. He would have no reason to falsify his research. Also, while he's a bit unorthodox, his sense of personal honor would never allow him to cheat on a simple test, much less his entire dissertation."

"But even more telling is the fact that immediately after everything broke and he lost his job with the university, he was offered a position as a detective with the Major Crimes unit," Sam put in. "They obviously didn't think he was a fraud."

"Then why haven't we heard anything about Sentinels?" Jack asked. "If you put this all together so quickly, surely there were other people out there who didn't believe it."

"Well, after the fuss died down, Blair turned around and sued the publisher and the school," Daniel added with a grin. "The publisher never verified that Blair did write the document, that there was a single true fact in it, and leaked it to the press against Blair's vehement protests that it should be dropped. The university accepted this unverified document from a publisher, not from Blair, and completely bypassed their own procedures for submission, just jumping on the bandwagon once people started tossing around words like Nobel Prize."

"Nobel?" Frasier asked in disbelief. "After a few days of exposure, and on an excerpt?"

Daniel shrugged. "I'm not sure how serious the talk of a Nobel was, but apparently, someone on the committee was quite impressed with what he read." He looked across at Jack and Hammond. "I did say he was very intelligent. Anyway, he won the lawsuit, and the school was forced to consider a substitute as his true, correctly submitted dissertation, as long as it had nothing to do with Sentinels. After three years of working with the police as an observer, he surely had plenty of material, and wrote it on the same subject he used as a cover to start working with the police in the first place. It passed all their requirements and standards, and he was rewarded his doctorate a year later."

"So what about the publisher?" Janet asked, caught up in the tale.

"Let's just say Blair now has a college fund put aside for his son," Daniel said with a smile.

"So we're assuming that Detective Ellison is another Sentinel, and is the second target the NID is after," Sam said, putting an end to the storytelling and instilling a sense of urgency to the situation. "We need to call and warn them."

Jack shook his head. "Already tried to call Blair's home and cell phones. Voice mail on both. I also tried his work number, and guess what; it also went to voice mail. I left messages to call me back. But now that we know about his partner, we should try those numbers as well." Sam tapped a few keys, then turned her computer around to show the Colonel a set of phone numbers. Pulling out a cell phone, he glanced aside to the General, getting a nod to proceed, and dialed one number after another. Snapping the phone closed, he shook his head. "No response. Are you getting the feeling that something bad is happening while we're sitting here?"

There were grim expressions all around the table at his comment. "Let me try Blair again," Daniel said, pulling out his own cell phone, not having much hope that he would reach anyone, but needing to do something. He listened to the phone ring once, twice, a third time, and then, to his shock, a voice answered.

"Sandburg," the voice was curt, nothing like the ebullient grad student he remembered.

"Blair?" Daniel asked, double-checking that he had the right person, even though he knew he did.

"Yeah, who is this?" Blair responded, and now Daniel could hear the tension in his voice.

"I don't know if you'll remember me, it's been a few years since we've spoken. This is Daniel Jackson."

"Daniel?" Blair's voice was confused. "Of course I remember you. I have to say, though, this is a pretty bad time. Can I ask why you're calling?"

Taking a deep breath and not knowing how to approach this, Daniel just blurted it out. "We found your wife. She's safe."

Blair's voice grew cold, hard. "You have my wife? I just got a voice mail from a Colonel with the Air Force saying he needed to talk to me about her. You working with the military now, Daniel?"

Biting back a curse at losing control of the conversation, Daniel tried to soothe the other man. "Yes, but listen to me, Blair. We were conducting a raid on an unauthorized research facility and found Megan locked up in a room. We brought her back with us, and she's resting in our infirmary now."

"How is she?" Blair's voice was still cold, but Daniel could clearly hear the worry.

He sighed, knowing that if he didn't want to totally destroy Blair's trust in him, he would have to be completely honest. "She's not doing so well. I don't want to go into details over the phone, but we think she's having a reaction to some of the drugs she was given. She's unresponsive right now." There was no answer from the other end, but Daniel could hear harsh breathing coming over the line, and was sure that Blair was trying to get his reactions under control before he spoke again. "Blair?" Daniel prompted.

"I'm here," Blair responded. He was clearly enraged, but was trying not to let it show. "I need to know what happened, everything that happened."

"Like I said, not over the phone," Daniel said. "Look, there's a military transport leaving a base near Cascade in a couple of hours. If you can be there before it leaves, they have orders to ferry you here so you can see her." Daniel went over the plans they had arranged earlier in the hopes of reaching Blair.

"That won't be necessary," Blair answered. "We're just leaving the Colorado Springs airport. We'll be at Cheyenne Mountain soon. I'd suggest you have someone at the gate ready to escort us in."

Daniel's mouth dropped open in shock. "Cheyenne Mountain?" He looked at Jack in disbelief, mouthing the question 'Did you tell him?' while holding his hand over the phone. Jack shook his head in denial and Daniel spoke into the phone again. "Um, Blair, what led you to believe that you'd find your wife in Cheyenne Mountain?"

"I am a detective," Blair answered, his voice still hard. "I just didn't know you were involved, Daniel." His voice dropped to a menacing whisper. "If I find out you were in on this…"

"I swear, I had nothing to do with her abduction, Blair," Daniel assured him. "None of us did. I'll explain everything when you get here. I'll be waiting for you myself."

"Good," Blair said, hanging up abruptly before Daniel could let him know that he knew about Megan's abilities. On the other hand, considering the way Blair was acting toward him, that might be a good thing. He looked around at the others who were staring at him in shock. He gestured toward the ceiling, indicating the upper levels. "I'd better get up there. Apparently, he'll be here shortly." He turned to Jack. "I think the reason you couldn't get him earlier is that he was on a plane."

"How did he know to come here?" Sam asked. "We didn't even find her until a few hours ago. He would have had to get on a plane very shortly after we brought her back here." She looked as confused as the rest of them.

"I don't know," Daniel answered honestly. "All he said was that he was a detective." Turning to Hammond, he asked, "Do I have permission to bring him in, General?"

Hammond sighed. "He has the right to see his wife, Dr. Jackson. Yes, bring him in, but straight to the infirmary. We'll meet you there. And I don't think I need to remind you to say nothing to him of the Stargate program."

"No, but when Megan wakes up, she'll probably have a lot to say about it," Daniel answered. "It might be better if we were up-front with him. There won't be any keeping it from him. And as protective as he's been of his Sentinels, I would think he would be willing to keep the program secret as well."

"Especially if he signs a non-disclosure agreement," Jack pointed out.

General Hammond nodded. "We'll have one ready, and you can only tell him about it after he signs."

"And if he refuses?" Daniel asked, thinking Sandburg had been pretty anti-military when he had known him. Then again, he had joined the police force as partner to an ex-Army Ranger, so his attitudes may well have changed in the intervening years.

Teal'c spoke for the first time in the entire briefing. "If he is a man of honor, you will not need to constrain him with a document. He has sworn to serve and protect the people of this world. Surely he will agree to stay silent when he understands the threat this world faces."

"Maybe," Daniel allowed. "If he thinks we hurt his wife, though, I'm not sure what he might do." Teal'c nodded to indicate that he understood the sentiment. Daniel was pretty sure that if anyone hurt someone Teal'c loved, they would not live to regret it.

"We'll cross that bridge if we come to it," Hammond said. "And if you want to be waiting for him when he gets here, you'd better head upstairs. I'll call ahead and have a visitor's pass ready for him."

Daniel nodded and stood, heading for the door.


	4. Chapter 4

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Summary: While raiding an NID base, the members of SG-1 discover an unusual captive, the subject of experimentation and research.

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

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Chapter Four

Sam stood and joined Daniel as he left the room. Glancing aside at her, Daniel held the door, not saying anything. Sam shrugged. "He might be less likely to get upset if there's a woman present."

"It's worth a shot," Daniel said as they got in the elevator for the ride to the surface entrance. They didn't have to wait long in the public lobby before Daniel saw a man and woman walking toward them.

As they approached, Daniel studied them. It was definitely Blair, but not quite the Blair that Daniel had known. Instead of the energetic, enthusiastic graduate student who could talk through the night on any and all subjects that caught his interest, the man walking toward him was stern, sober, with no trace of a bounce in his step. His energy seemed leashed now, put to other uses. He wasn't wearing his usual torn jeans and flannel shirt, but a pair of dark pants and a matching jacket. His long hair was no more, cut much shorter, and even the small hoop earring in his ear did not detract from the overall look. Daniel wondered if the change was due to recent circumstances, or if Blair had simply grown up. He would have to be in his early thirties now. The woman with him seemed to have picked her attire to match, dark pants and a fitted jacket over a blue blouse. Her hair was pulled back away from her face in a professional style that did nothing to detract from her appearance. Daniel thought she was quite attractive, but the look in her green eyes was decidedly unfriendly. He thought she seemed to be in her mid-twenties or so, about Megan's age.

"Who's the woman?" Sam whispered in his ear.

Daniel shrugged. "No idea." He stepped forward as the two entered the lobby. "Blair, it's good to see you again. I do wish it had been under better circumstances."

Blair inclined his head toward him. "Daniel. We'd like to see Megan now."

"We being?" Sam asked, raising her eyebrows and looking at the woman beside him.

"I'm Katie O'Brien, Megan's best friend," the woman answered. "And you are?"

"This is Major Samantha Carter," Daniel made the introduction.

Both Blair and Katie started at her name, and Sam hastened to add, "No relation."

"Now that introductions are out of the way, may we go?" Blair asked.

Daniel frowned. This was nothing at all like the Blair he remembered, but he had to give him the benefit of the doubt. The man's wife had been missing for two weeks, after all. "Sure," he said, gesturing toward the security desk. "We just need to get visitor's badges for you, and then we'll take you to Megan."

Getting the badges was easy with both Daniel and Sam ready to vouch for the visitors, and General Hammond having called ahead. The guard was not so ready to allow them to proceed with the backpacks they were both carrying, however. Though they were clearly not thrilled with the idea, both Blair and Katie submitted to a bag search.

The guard raised an eyebrow at some of the items inside. "Candles, lotion, silk pajamas? What, exactly are you planning here?"

"That is no concern of yours," Blair answered coldly. "There is nothing in those bags that could be considered a weapon of any kind, so if you would kindly let us continue?"

"What's this?" he asked, holding up a small mechanical device with an on-off switch.

"It's a white-noise generator," he replied with a sigh. "If you must know, we're here to do a sleep study. Katie needs those items to help her sleep. Now if you don't mind?"

Daniel raised an eyebrow at Blair's excuse, but didn't comment. The guard looked at Sam and Daniel, and Sam gave him a nod, telling him to allow it. With a sigh, the guard handed the backpacks back to the visitors and waved them through.

Once in the elevator, Daniel looked at Blair. "Mind if I ask what all that's for?" He carefully avoided asking about the 'sleep study'.

"Megan," Blair answered shortly.

Daniel realized the items in the bags would help with a Sentinel's senses, but wisely didn't say anything about that. An elevator was not the place he would choose to tell Blair that he knew the man's most closely kept secret. There was silence in the elevator all the way down to the level of the infirmary. When they exited the elevator, Daniel led the way to Megan's room.

Daniel opened the door and stepped back out of the way. Blair gave him barely a glance, hurrying into the room with Katie right beside him. "Oh, Megan," the sound was barely a whisper as Blair caught sight of his wife. He strode quickly to her side, dropping the bag on the floor as he picked up her hand. Katie stepped to the side of the bed and started looking over all of the monitors, noting heart rate, respiration and other vital stats.

"Hello," Dr. Frasier approached the two of them. "I'm Dr. Frasier. I've been looking after Megan since her arrival."

"How have you been treating her?" Katie asked, skipping all pleasantries.

"I haven't been able to do much," Frasier admitted. "I didn't dare put more chemicals into her system, so I've just been pushing saline, trying to flush out her system and keep her hydrated. At Daniel's suggestion, I have tried to make her environment as minimal as possible."

At her comment, Blair turned to Daniel. Holding up a hand to beg forbearance, Daniel responded to the unasked question. "Yes, we figured out that Megan was a Sentinel. It wasn't until after I heard your name that I started to put it together with what I had seen of Megan. When I found her, her senses seemed to be extremely sensitive to her environment. The light was too bright, our voices too loud. She couldn't stand for anyone to touch her. By the time we got her here, she was in the state you see her, catatonic. Dr. Frasier can tell you all the drugs she was given and anything about her physical state you would like to know."

Blair's expression had gone from outrage and wariness to concern. After hearing Daniel's explanation, he nodded in understanding. "OK, then. We need everyone to clear out of the room so Katie and I can get to work. If you know about Sentinels, you must realize that we have a better idea of how to help her than any doctor could who has never encountered Sentinels. But we can't bring her out of it with the room full of extra people. I need everyone out now."

"Not so fast, son," a voice spoke from the hallway. Daniel winced, knowing Blair was not going to appreciate any delays now. Blair turned around with a set expression on his face as General Hammond introduced himself. "I'm General Hammond and this base is my responsibility. Once you see your wife, there are a few things we need to discuss."

"When I'm satisfied she's well," Blair said firmly. "My first priority here is Megan. We can talk about whatever you like only after that. " Daniel was impressed at how easily Blair seemed to stand his ground before the general.

O'Neill and Teal'c entered the room just as Hammond nodded in acceptance of the terms Blair set. Blair and Katie stared at O'Neill in open-mouthed shock, nearly ignoring Teal'c. Daniel hurriedly introduced Jack O'Neill and 'Murray' to the two newcomers.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Jack asked self-consciously.

Blair shook his head abruptly. "Sorry. We don't mean to stare. You just look a lot like my father." Daniel had a hard time holding back a chuckle at Jack's flabbergasted expression. Waving a hand to dismiss the idea, Blair turned back to look at Megan. "I need everyone to leave now. If we're going to help Megan, we can't have extra people in the room. So if you don't mind, I'd like everyone to clear the room."

"I'd like to observe, if you don't mind," Frasier said. "She's my patient, and if you have a way to help her, I'd like to know it."

Blair sighed, looking around the room. Megan had been placed into one of the operating rooms with a separate observation room in order to better control her environment, and Blair pointed to the observation room. "Fine, you can watch from there, but there can be no one else in this room. Work it out amongst yourselves, just please get out."

Daniel wanted to avoid aggravating Blair so he took Janet's arm and started walking her toward the door. "Good luck," he said to Blair as they left the room. Dr. Frasier headed straight for the observation room and Daniel followed along. Teal'c shook his head and ducked away, declining to observe, and Jack hesitated a moment before walking off in the other direction. General Hammond sighed and asked Daniel to inform him when Megan was awake again before heading to his office. Sam hesitated, her scientific curiosity eventually winning out and she joined Janet and Daniel.

As they entered the observation room, they each took a seat and watched in silence. The first thing Katie did was to start disconnecting Megan from all of her monitors, then turning each one off. She only left the IV in place, but took the lotion out of Blair's backpack and began applying it to the area around the IV and the sites where the monitor leads had been removed. Once that was done, she and Blair took a moment to examine Megan's arms, finding the bandages over the restraint marks on her wrists and the needle marks on her arms. Daniel saw Blair's hands tighten into fists and then Katie reached over and touched his hand. Blair closed his eyes, and took several deep breaths before nodding to Katie and turning back to Megan.

Blair took a seat next to Megan's bed, and picked up her hand, holding it gently in his. Katie pulled up a seat near Megan's head and reached out a hand, placing it on Megan's forehead. She leaned over and started whispering in Megan's ear, her fingers rubbing small circles on Megan's brow. Blair brought Megan's hand up to rest flat on his chest, over his heart and held it there with one hand, gently tracing the fingers of his other hand up and down her arm. He let Katie do the talking, though. For a long time, it seemed that nothing was happening, but then Megan's fingers twitched. Katie leaned over and took her hand, holding it tightly in hers. The mikes in the room were live, but Katie spoke so quietly that they didn't pick up anything more than a faint susurrus. For a long moment more, the tableau seemed frozen, with Katie whispering to Megan, and Blair holding her hand against his chest. Finally, there was more sign of movement, Megan's breathing quickening as she tightened her grip on Katie's hand. Megan turned her head toward Katie and cracked her eyes open.

"Katie?" she whispered, confused for a moment.

"It's all right. You're safe now," Katie told her. "It's going to take a little while for you to bounce back, but you're going to be fine."

"'kay," she said, her words still a little slurred. She seemed to realize that there was someone else holding her other hand, and she looked over to see her husband sitting beside her. "Blair," she said, a smile spreading across her face. She blinked her eyes several times, forcing herself to concentrate, and her smile faded. "Chris?" she asked, her voice worried.

"He's safe," Blair answered, leaning down and kissing her cheek. "He's with your Mom. She's enjoying the chance to babysit." Her brow creased, but before she could voice the question, he continued. "They're protected. Don't worry. No one is getting our son." She nodded, relaxing back against the pillows. It took a moment before it registered that there should have been someone else in the room with them.

"Jim?" Her face fell as she watched Blair's expression. "Oh, no."

"He was taken late last night," Blair told her, holding her hand. "We assumed it was the same people who grabbed you." Megan started struggling to sit up, to get out of bed. "Where do you think you're going?" Blair asked in alarm, pressing his hand against her shoulder. "You're in no shape to go anywhere just yet. Lie back down and let us take care of this."

"Got to get him back," she said stubbornly, glaring up at her husband.

"We will," Blair told her confidently. "But you won't be much help until you're in better shape. Just rest for now. We'll figure this out, I promise."

Nodding weakly, she relaxed back into the bed and took a deep breath. "OK," she whispered.

"We're too late," Sam said to Daniel. "They already took their second target. The general will want to know this."

"He'll want to know she's awake as well," Frasier said. "I don't know how they did it. They just talked to her and were able to bring her out of it. She even seems fairly coherent."

"Part of that could be due to the fact that it's been at least half a day since she's been rescued and you've been pumping saline into her ever since her arrival. I'm sure you've flushed some of the drugs out of her system already," Daniel replied.

"True, but that doesn't explain how they brought her out of it," Frasier protested. She looked up as Blair stood and turned to face them.

"I'm ready to talk now," he said.

Sam nodded and stood up. "I'll go inform the General and find the Colonel and Teal'c."

"I'll escort Blair to the conference room," Daniel said, standing up to follow her out of the room.

"And I'm going to go check on my patient," Dr. Frasier said, moving past them both to head down to the room where Megan was now resting peacefully.

Daniel followed Frasier into the room. "Hello, Ms. Carter," Janet said, approaching the woman in the bed. "I'm Dr. Frasier. I've been taking care of you since your arrival here, but we never had a chance to introduce ourselves."

Megan smiled tiredly up at her. "Please, it's Megan. I only go by Carter for work purposes. Thank you for doing what you could to help me." Megan scratched absently at the IV site on the back of her hand.

Katie reached over and lightly swatted her hand away. "Don't touch that. You still need it." She looked up at Frasier. "I'd like to add my own thanks."

"You're both welcome," she said. "I only wish I had been able to do more."

"Don't worry about it," Megan said with a weak grin. "I tend to confound most doctors."

Daniel cleared his throat and waited until everyone looked his direction. "Blair, I don't mean to rush you, but the General is probably waiting by now. You did say you were ready to talk."

Blair nodded and touched Megan's hand. "I'll be back in a bit. Katie will stay here with you." He looked at the doctor. "I'd like you to join this meeting, if you would."

"I'd rather stay here," she protested. "My patient has just awoken from a catatonic state and I haven't had a chance to so much as take her pulse."

"Katie will be here with her. She's fully trained as a nurse, and trust me, if Megan needs help, Katie is more qualified to help her anyway." Blair's voice was matter-of-fact, and his gentle expression kept the words from being condescending.

Frasier sighed softly, "Fine. I'll join the meeting if you think it so important." She glanced back at Megan and Katie. "But I want your cooperation when I return. I need to check you over." Megan nodded in agreement and Janet strode toward the door, Blair and Daniel moving to accompany her.


	5. Chapter 5

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Summary: While raiding an NID base, the members of SG-1 discover an unusual captive, the subject of experimentation and research.

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

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Chapter Five

Daniel quickly led the way to the briefing room. The blast door had been lowered so that the view of the gate room was hidden. Blair entered the room and looked at the others seated around the table. Daniel gestured toward a seat near the middle of the table, which Blair took, then seated himself in the next chair over.

Blair looked down at the folder placed in front of him, then looked up at the General, raising an eyebrow. "Non-disclosure forms, I take it?"

"Yes," General Hammond said. "While I grant that it was necessary, and through no doing of yours, you have been brought into a classified facility. I must ask that you sign those forms. We must be certain that you will not speak of anything you may see or learn here."

"I have no problem with that," Blair said, "but I have certain conditions of my own before I'll sign anything."

General Hammond's eyebrows climbed up his forehead. "You're setting conditions?" His voice took on an incredulous tone.

Blair raised a placating hand. "I'm still not convinced that you and those here are innocent in the kidnapping of first my wife, and then my partner. I'm not signing a thing until I'm sure you can be trusted."

General Hammond took a deep breath, and then let it out slowly. "Very well. I can understand that. Anything else?"

"Daniel tells me that you're aware of my area of research," Blair approached the subject in a round-about manner.

Jack apparently had no patience with that. "Yeah, Carter and Daniel found out about your wife and partner being these 'sentences' or whatever you call them," he said, waving a hand in the air to indicate it wasn't important to him what they were called.

"Sentinels, Jack," Daniel corrected him, sneaking a glance at Blair. It seemed that Blair was having a hard time keeping a straight face, but the almost smile faded as he nodded.

"Yeah, Sentinels." Blair looked at the others sitting around the table. "How many people know about this?"

"Just the people in this room," Daniel answered. "And maybe a few med-techs who were treating Megan."

Dr. Frasier shook her head. "No, I was treating Megan myself. I never mentioned anything about Sentinels or extra abilities to anyone else. Though several people have looked at the computer records that her captors kept on their experiments."

Blair's face grew sober. "I'm going to want those records. I'll also ask that the knowledge goes no further, that no one here shares this with any other. I don't have a form for you to sign, so I guess I'll have to trust you if you choose to give your word."

"You just said you don't even know if you can trust us," Sam pointed out. "Why would you take our word for it?"

"Because I'm not leaving here until I get the answers I'm looking for," Blair said.

Jack gave a short laugh. "You've got chutzpah, I'll give you that. You're more than twenty floors deep in a mountain, surrounded by soldiers. And here you are, making demands." Daniel glared at him. They were supposed to be reassuring Blair that they could be trusted. "What?" Jack asked defensively, hands held out in an innocent gesture. "I'm just making a point."

Daniel shook his head. "What point, Jack?" He turned to Blair. "Just ignore him. What do you want to know, Blair? What would convince you that we can be trusted?"

Blair glanced aside at Jack, then looked at Daniel. "I just want you to answer a few questions for me."

"What questions?" Hammond asked warily.

"Did you have anything to do with Megan and Jim's kidnappings?" Blair asked, staring at each one of them in turn, waiting for a response.

Since Daniel seemed to be the designated spokesperson, he answered the question, holding Blair's gaze. "No, Blair, we didn't."

"Did you know anything about Sentinels before you found Megan?" Blair seemed to be trying to read Daniel's thoughts and motives as he waited for an answer.

"I'm the only person who had heard of them, and I only knew what you had told me years ago," Daniel answered honestly.

Blair nodded. "And now that you do know, what are your intentions?" He turned his gaze toward the highest-ranking military officer and raised an eyebrow.

"Son, our only intentions here are to get your wife well and find your partner and send you all on your way. We certainly don't mean any of you any harm, or have any ideas of using your loved ones for any nefarious experiments." General Hammond held Blair's attention as he spoke.

Blair leaned back in his chair. "OK, then. Do I have your agreement to keep everything you've discovered and might learn about us secret?"

General Hammond looked around the table and got a nod from each member before speaking for all of them. "Yes, you do. We've seen firsthand what can happen to those who are considered different, and these kidnappings make your point quite well for you. You have our promise that we'll do what we can to help protect all of you."

"Thank you," Blair said with a slow nod toward the General. He let out a long sigh and quickly rubbed his hands over his face. "So," he said, placing his hands on the table. "Do you have any idea who is behind this and where they might have taken Jim?"

General Hammond looked pointedly down toward the paper in front of Blair, and a wry grin touched Blair's face. "Oh, right. I don't suppose you're just going to trust that I'll keep anything I see or learn here secret?" He picked the paper up and read through it swiftly but thoroughly before nodding. "Seems pretty standard. Nothing I object to in there." He picked up the pen and signed the form. "Now can we continue?" He sounded impatient, and Daniel decided they should start talking.

"We know who grabbed your wife, and have a pretty good idea of who has your partner. We raided a facility being run by a rogue group of the NID on the intelligence that they were trying to create an army of super-soldiers. When we got there, we took most of them captive and found Megan locked in a room. They were trying to use her DNA to help them accomplish their goals. The notes in the doctor's files indicate that they found her unsuitable; that her vulnerabilities outweighed her abilities and that they were moving on to their secondary target. The computer files indicate that there were four men we didn't take prisoner in the raid. We don't know where they are, but it's a good bet they have your partner."

Blair frowned and leaned forward. "You said you have prisoners, right? Have you been able to get anything out of them? When these missing men return to find their facility empty, they'll probably go to a backup location. Being the NID, I'm sure they have backup plans for what to do if some of them are captured. If you can get a location from your prisoners, we can go rescue Jim." He looked toward Jack and General Hammond for answers.

It was Jack who supplied them. "We've had discussions with several of them. So far, we've had no luck getting a backup location. We're not giving up, though. Once we find out where they are, we will be pulling together a mission to take the rest of them and rescue your partner."

"I want to be involved in any rescue," Blair insisted. "I'll follow orders, but I need to be there."

Jack was already shaking his head. "Sorry. I know why you want to be there, but I don't take civilians on missions."

Blair tilted a head toward Daniel. "Last I knew, Dr. Jackson wasn't actually in the military."

"But he's a member of my team," Jack insisted. "I know how he'll react in certain situations. I don't know you. I don't know your capabilities, or how you'll react in dangerous situations."

A huff of barely suppressed laughter escaped Blair. "I am a detective, you know. I've been one for a couple of years and have been in more dangerous situations than I care to think about for the last five, ever since I started riding with Jim. But more important, you need me there when you go after Jim."

"What do you mean by that, Detective Sandburg?" Teal'c asked, studying him closely.

Taking a deep breath, Blair clasped his hands together on the table. "There's something you need to know about Sentinels. As you saw with Megan, a Sentinel can be overwhelmed by their senses. That's why they each have a partner, a Guide. It's the Guide's job to help the Sentinel, to help them cope with their senses, to block out extraneous data, to help them find a balance, and basically, to watch their backs. Katie is Megan's Guide, and I'm Jim's. If Katie had been there when you found Megan, she might have been able to keep her from becoming catatonic. You might seriously need me there to help with Jim. Trust me, Jim is much less likely to trust any help that might come along if he doesn't know them. He's a lot more suspicious than Megan. His military training, I suppose," he added with a sidelong glance at Jack. Daniel bit back a grin. It seemed that Blair hadn't lost his sense of humor, though it did appear a bit more muted than Daniel was used to.

General Hammond looked at Blair with a thoughtful gaze. "And you're convinced that your presence is necessary on a rescue?"

"Absolutely," Blair answered steadily.

With a glance aside at Colonel O'Neill, Hammond nodded assent. "You'll have to get checked out on weapons, but since you've gone through training, I doubt it will be an issue. Once we find his location, we'll be sure to include you in any planning."

"General," Jack protested, letting the argument die when he saw the expression on the General's face.

"If he can help ensure the success of all the mission goals, Colonel, he's going to be included." General Hammond stared O'Neill down, and Jack finally glanced aside, accepting the order he'd been given.

"Thank you," Blair said gratefully.

Daniel glanced aside at the others around the table. "If you're going on a mission with us, there are a few things you need to know." He waited until General Hammond gave his permission, and then looked directly at Blair. "My theories were right, Blair."

With a little laugh, Blair shook his head. "You'll have to be more specific, Daniel. You've had lots of theories over the years, and we've discussed most of them at some point or other."

"The theories that got me ostracized from the field," Daniel said, keeping his eyes on Blair. He had the pleasure of watching as Blair realized what he was being told.

Blair's eyes widened with a mix of awareness and excitement. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the table. "You're kidding me, right? You're telling me the aliens exist; that the pyramids were built by these aliens? No way, man."

Daniel just raised an eyebrow and gave him a grin.

Running a hand back through his hair, Blair just shook his head. "So if you claim that you're right, you must have proof of some kind. Have you ever met one of these aliens? What are they like? Hell, are they even still around, or did they all die out centuries ago? You have **got** to tell me everything, Daniel. I have so many questions for you."

Daniel couldn't stop his grin as he heard Jack mutter under his breath. "Gee, Daniel, he can talk as fast as you can." He was witnessing the return of the Blair he had known in the rapid-fire questions being thrown at him.

Blair ignored Jack as if he had long practice and gave a small laugh. "What you're telling me is mind blowing. Aliens, that's unbelievable." He went still for a moment and gazed off into the distance as if deep in thought. His gaze swung slowly around to focus on Teal'c. "Would you mind removing that ball cap?"

Teal'c glanced at Jack, and getting a faint nod, removed his cap, turning to face Blair, who focused his gaze on the gold seal on Teal'c's forehead. "What are you?" Blair asked in curiosity.

"I am a Jaffa," Teal'c answered simply.

"In other words, not from Earth," Blair said slowly, taking it all in. "So, is your name really Murray?"

"No, I was not born on this world, though it has become my home in recent years. You may call me Teal'c." Teal'c answered Blair's questions with a slight incline of his head.

Blair took a deep breath and turned back to Daniel. "Tell me everything."

Daniel began explaining how the Stargate had been found, how the military had recruited him, and how they had gotten the Stargate to work. He told Blair about the life they had discovered, both alien and human, enemies and friends. Though he described the worlds and cultures they had encountered, the one element he did not mention was Sha're. That was a topic for another time, not a briefing.

Blair listened with rapt attention, interrupting Daniel with a myriad of questions, so the explanations took awhile. When he finished, Blair sat back into his seat, incredulous.

"Zeus," he whispered to himself. He looked up at Daniel. "So you found Megan on another world, didn't you?" His eyes drifted to a corner of the room as he thought. "Oh man, she overloaded when you brought her back through the Stargate. If her senses were out of control to start with, a trip through an interstellar wormhole would certainly disrupt her perceptions and send her into a massive overload. I'm actually surprised we didn't have more trouble bringing her out of it."

Frasier's attention was caught by what Blair was saying about Megan's reaction to the wormhole, but Daniel spoke up before Janet could ask her questions. "How do you know about Zeus, Blair?"

"Hmmm?" Blair asked, his tone making the sound an absent question, focusing on Daniel again. "Oh, you mean the other planet thing? Megan told me about it, but I thought she was hallucinating due to the drugs she was given and pretty much dismissed it. I guess she really did see what she thought she did."

"When did she tell you that?" Daniel asked. "She just woke up, and I doubt you held any long conversations with her in the short time between us leaving the observation room and arriving in the infirmary."

Blair shrugged the question off. "We had long enough." Daniel studied him, but couldn't pinpoint why he thought Blair wasn't quite telling the truth. There was nothing overt to indicate he was lying, but Daniel had known Blair pretty well at one point, and something just seemed… off to him.

Deciding not to say anything at the moment, Daniel turned as Frasier started questioning Blair. "What do you mean by an overload?"

"A Sentinel is constantly bombarded by sensory input that the rest of us never even register," Blair explained. "They pick up the faintest trace of a scent on the air, hear things from further away than any other human, but even more, can sort out the various inputs and focus in or discard any one source. Taking in so much input at all times takes control. Megan and Jim are, most of the time, perfectly in control of their senses, constantly filtering out extraneous data and looking for things that don't fit. When Megan was drugged, her control was destroyed. Her senses overwhelmed her, and she was barely able to cope with her surroundings. You then took her and brought her through a wormhole, which I would assume is a disorienting experience for anyone their first time?"

Blair looked at Daniel, who nodded reluctantly, realizing his part in the deterioration of Megan's condition. "Then the disorientation of that experience pushed her over the edge. It was more than she could handle, and she retreated to a safe place within her mind. At that point, it would take a Guide, or more specifically, her Guide to pull her out of it." He looked at Janet. "While minimizing the sensory stimuli in her environment was a good starting place, and should always be the first step in treating an injured Sentinel, you wouldn't have had much chance of waking her. She had retreated too far to be reached by anyone else."

Dr. Frasier was rapidly taking notes, and then looked up to Blair. "Assuming she hadn't reached that state, how would you advise I treat her? Now that she's awake, I need to know what she needs."

"What she most needs right now is rest, and a chance to regain her control," Blair said.

"She seemed fine when we left," Sam put in. "She was obviously tired and weakened by her ordeal, but she was sitting up and carrying on coherent conversations. If she didn't have control, wouldn't she have been reacting more strongly to her surroundings?"

"Megan's control is certainly improved, but it's very tenuous right now, and a great strain on her body to maintain even that," Blair explained. "Once this briefing is done, I want to take Megan out of here and get her to a quiet place somewhere that we can work with her."

"I would not recommend that," Dr. Frasier said with alarm in her voice. "You may be the expert in how to treat Sentinels, but I am her doctor. She's been through a very traumatic ordeal and you haven't seen the list of drugs she was given. She needs to stay close in case she has a delayed reaction to any of them. I am not giving permission as her doctor for her to leave."

Blair crossed his arms and glared back at Janet in frustration. "Well, she can't stay in the infirmary tonight. That won't help in her recovery at all."

"What do you need?" Daniel asked Blair, trying to help solve the impasse.

"I need a quiet room, as far away from any noise or commotion as possible with a bathroom that has a bathtub. Everything else I would need, I brought with me, in the backpack I left with Megan and Katie."

"I believe we can provide that," General Hammond said. "We have a number of rooms in this facility, some of which are occupied by people in this command. There are times when it is not practical to leave the base, so each of the people in this room, with the exception of yourself, have a room of their own here. We also have a number of rooms set aside for visitors, and we could certainly make one available for your use."

"What are you planning to do to treat her?" Frasier asked, her pen still poised over her notepad.

"I need to create as soothing an environment as possible, to allow her to relax her control without being overwhelmed and build it back to normal levels. I have battery powered candles packed to provide a soft, non-intrusive light. They are unscented so they won't bother her sense of smell. I have unscented bath oils to soothe her irritated skin. Right now, she's as sensitive to every touch as if she had a massive sunburn. The least touch causes her a lot of pain. The oils and the lotions I brought will help ease that. I have a white noise generator that will help block any sounds outside the room, and silken pajamas and an eye mask to help her sleep without any irritation. The only other thing she needs is food to replenish her strength. She's lost a few pounds over the past couple of weeks that she can ill afford to lose. But the food needs to be as bland as possible, no strong spices or scents. She'll complain about it, but can't really handle anything stronger just yet. So the main needs are a soothing environment, food and sleep."

Janet was scribbling furiously, and nodded in agreement. "That certainly sounds like something we can provide. I'll notify the kitchen to prepare something for her. Do you have any specific recommendations?"

"I'd actually like to prepare something myself," Blair said with a shrug. "If you don't mind. We'd prefer to know exactly what's going into her system. After an overload, either Katie or I make sure we are the only ones to make her or Jim's food. And I know Megan needs Katie with her at the moment, so I'll take care of getting the food and preparing the room for her."

"So what about Katie?" Jack asked, with a raised eyebrow. "Is she going to share your room?"

"Not unless you only have one room available," Blair answered with a bemused expression. "Though she will need a room as close as possible, in case I need her help with Megan in the night. Next door would be best." He gave them a small grin. "Let's just say that for this particular method of treatment, we've agreed that it's best performed by the spouse, rather than the Guide of the Sentinel in question."

"I can see why," Daniel said mildly, jumping in before Jack could get off the snide retort he could almost see forming on the other's lips.

Blair looked around the room at the others. "So, if there's nothing else we need to cover for the moment, I'd like to get started on that meal and get the preparations made for Megan. I've taken longer than I wanted to already."

General Hammond glanced at Dr. Frasier and Daniel, silently asking if they had any further questions. When none were forthcoming, he placed his hands flat on the table. "Then it seems we are finished for the moment. Detective Sandburg, we will be sure to include you in any information we receive from our prisoners and any plans made to rescue your partner. For now, you are free to do whatever you see fit to take care of your wife. If you don't mind, however, I would prefer it if you did not go wandering off on your own around here. You don't have the clearance to see most of what goes on in these walls. To that end, I'll assign a liaison to be with you at all times."

"Acceptable terms," Blair said. "So, do you need to call someone to escort me to the kitchens? Because I'll admit that I have no idea where that might be, and a guide might actually be welcome."

Daniel laughed, remembering some of the exploits he and Blair had been involved in, and how at least two of the more memorable times had been due to Blair getting them lost. "You've always had a lousy sense of direction," he said. "I'll be your guide for now, if you don't mind. Give us a chance to catch up a little."

"Sounds good to me," Blair said, glancing back at the General. "Can we leave now?"

"Dismissed," Hammond said, pushing back from the table and standing, putting an end to the conference.

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The briefing room quickly cleared out, with Daniel leading Blair to one of the smaller staff kitchens meant for those who had the time and preferred to cook their own meals rather than picking something up from the mess hall.

Once they were alone, and Blair had started the homemade chicken vegetable soup he had chosen for Megan's supper, Daniel broached the subject he had dropped earlier in the conference room. "Why did you lie when I asked how you knew about Megan calling the planet Zeus?"

Blair dropped a handful of sliced celery into the pot and turned to face Daniel. "What do you mean? I didn't lie. Megan told me about it."

Daniel studied his face intently. His instincts about his friend told him that while he wasn't lying about that, he wasn't being entirely truthful, either. "There's something you're not telling me," he said. "After she woke up, there were only a couple of minutes that you were out of our hearing range. There wasn't enough time for her to tell you much of her story at all."

Falling silent as he absently stirred the soup, Blair gazed off in the distance, apparently thinking about how to answer. Not sure if he was going to get a response, Daniel was quiet, letting Blair make up his mind on his own, without any prodding. Leaving the spoon in the pot, Blair crossed the room and gently closed the door, ensuring that no one else would hear what he had to say. Walking back to stand near the stove, Blair leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest. "Daniel, I know you're obligated to report on anything you feel is relevant to your missions, and I respect that. But you're asking me to speak about one of our most closely guarded secrets. I've already said way more than I'm comfortable with today about Sentinels and Guides and the connection between us. I'd like to ask that you don't share this with the rest of your team, at least not until I give the go-ahead. Can you promise me that?"

Daniel frowned, crossing his own arms and leaning back against the table, unconsciously mirroring Blair's pose. "I can only promise to hear you out, and if it won't pose any sort of danger to my team or anyone else, I'll agree to hold off on telling anyone until you agree to it."

"Good enough, I guess," Blair said, apparently accepting that it was the best offer he would get from his old friend. "The part I didn't mention earlier is that there's a mental connection between the Sentinel and Guide. It's a sense of knowing when the other is nearby, if there's something wrong, that kind of thing. If a Sentinel's abilities lie in enhanced physical senses, a Guide's abilities lie more in being able to read others, to know how they're feeling, how best to reach someone else. Trust me, it comes in handy in knowing how to deal with stubborn Sentinels. Well, Megan's genetic heritage isn't quite what even a normal Sentinel is. Somewhere in her ancestry, a Guide and a Sentinel produced a child together. Megan is the result of that combination. Her mental abilities are heightened as much as her physical senses. With her abilities, the four of us are able to carry on conversations without speaking a word, from some distance away."

Daniel gaped at Blair, dropping his crossed arms to brace them against the table behind him. "You're telepathic? Or is just Megan telepathic?" He wasn't quite sure what Blair meant.

A grimace twisted Blair's mouth. "I don't like to use that word. People always have such preconceptions when it comes to telepathy. Megan is the only one who fully has the ability to have a conversation with any one of us, but if she's involved, the four of us can converse together. Trust me, it's been very odd these past two weeks not to be able to use that ability. We can still sense each other without her around, as I said, but to get the full extent of it, she needs to be there. When I was asking whether any of you were involved or knew anything about their abductions, Megan was kind of an invisible observer in my head. She agreed that you could be trusted, so I was free to speak as I did. Throughout the rest of the briefing, I relayed information back to her, and she and Katie spoke to me about what was going on. It would have been too much of a strain on her to stay 'with me' during the briefing, so we were having our own conversations back and forth."

"And how does she feel about you telling me all this?" Daniel asked, not sure what to think about this latest revelation.

Blair smiled slightly. "She's sleeping at the moment, and I don't want to wake her. She needs all the rest she can get." He studied Daniel for a moment. "Still don't believe me, do you? I'll give you a little more then, tell you some of the things she told me happened after you rescued her. She told me about Teal'c not being human, that there was something different about him, a second heartbeat emanating from his abdomen. She mentioned that if he were a woman, she would have suggested a pregnancy. Of course, you did explain after that about Jaffa hosting the Goa'uld young, so you might not believe that she's the one who prompted me to ask Teal'c to take off his hat. I knew what I would see under that hat."

Blair tilted his head and Daniel made a non-committal sound. As Blair said, he had been told about Jaffa in the briefing, so that wasn't proof. Blair grinned and unfolded his arms. "How about this? When you brought Megan to the main room where Dr. Barras was being held, she attacked him, knocked him on his ass." The feral grin that Blair gave Daniel was startling. "That's my girl," he said proudly.

Daniel stared at Blair. Megan might have had time to mention that they had been on a distant moon orbiting the planet that she had named Zeus, but she would not have had time to mention that, the attack on the doctor, and her impression of Teal'c. "So, would she really have killed the doctor if Teal'c hadn't pulled her away from him?"

Blair shrugged. "Under normal conditions, I'd say no, but in the condition she was, I don't think even she could tell you what was going on in her mind at the time. I know she would have at least tried to strangle him if _Colonel O'Neill _hadn't pulled her off of him," he said, stressing the name, and passing the test Daniel had given him. "But whether she meant to kill him or just hurt him, I don't know." He turned and added a little salt to the soup, stirring it again to be sure it didn't burn. "Anything else you'd like to know, Daniel?"

"Actually, yes." Daniel knew Blair had expected him to say no, but his curiosity had gotten the better of him. "Can she do this with anyone? Is she a mind reader? I know you said you don't like the word telepath, but is she one?"

"No, she's not," Blair said. "That goes for all of your questions. She's not a telepath or a mind reader, and there are people she still finds it difficult to get a good read on. She is more an empath than a telepath. Megan can sense the emotions of those around her, and at times, can be a bit overwhelmed by them, just as she can by her physical senses. Most of the time she can pick up on surface thoughts of those around her, but those are usually just a jumbled random mess for her unless she concentrates on a specific person and excludes everyone else. I will say that gift comes in handy for interrogations or undercover assignments, though. And she does make use of them. She's also pretty much impossible to lie to, so I wouldn't recommend it. Actually, I wouldn't recommend trying to lie to a Sentinel at all. Even if Jim doesn't have her empathic abilities, he can focus on a person's heart rate, respiration, tension in their facial features. If he's paying attention to these things, he's a human lie detector."

Blair fell silent and turned back to the soup, stirring it, then lifting the spoon to his lips for a taste. He nodded to himself, put the spoon in the sink and turned off the heat under the pot. Though Daniel was no empath, he thought he could read Blair pretty well after all their years of friendship, and he seemed very uncomfortable at the moment, busying himself with the soup to avoid the need to talk. Daniel reviewed their conversation in his head and realized that the last thing Blair had been talking about was his partner.

"We'll get him back," Daniel said. "Don't worry, Blair. Someone in our brig knows the location of the backup site. We'll get it out of them and then go and get him back."

With an exhausted sigh, Blair turned away from the stove and moved around to take a seat at the table. Daniel turned around and did the same, taking a seat across from his friend. "Thanks for that, Daniel, but it's a big galaxy out there. You said these people have a cloaked ship. They don't need a planet with a Stargate. If they went somewhere you can't reach, then what?"

"We have allies with ships, Blair," Daniel said. "Don't worry. We will find him and get him back to you. We're not going to leave him out there. Jack's mantra is 'we don't leave anyone behind'. He's one of ours, Blair. Hammond and Jack won't stop until he's found. We didn't know Megan was out there, and we got her back. Now that we know they have someone else, none of us will rest until he's returned." Daniel wasn't about to mention Sha're now, a case of a loved one being lost in that wide galaxy, one who could never return. He buried the pang of loss in his heart and sought to reassure Blair that his friend, his Sentinel, would be returned.

"And I appreciate it more than you can know," Blair said, his gratitude obvious as he spoke. "You saved Megan; you brought my wife back to me. If they had decided she was no more use to them, they would likely have killed her. I doubt she had long left under their 'tender care'." He used air quotes and a heavy dose of sarcasm to indicate what he thought of how she'd been treated. He met Daniel's gaze steadily. "Thank you so much for saving her. I can't imagine what life would be like without her. But I can't imagine it without Jim, either. The bond between a Sentinel and Guide is meant to be a life-long partnership. Just as I'm not complete without Megan, I'm not whole without Jim, either. I don't know if I can even explain it in words, but the four of us have a connection. When one is missing, it throws all the others out of balance. We need him back, Daniel."

"You'll get him back, Blair. I promise to do everything in my power to see to it." Daniel wasn't about to promise that Jim would be returned, and he knew Blair understood the vow he had made.

"Thanks, Daniel. I have to admit that when I found out that a secret government project was somehow linked to Megan's disappearance, I never expected you to be involved in any of it, but I'm glad you're here."

"How did you find your way here?" Daniel asked. "You had to have been on the plane shortly after we brought her through the gate. You were in the air before we'd ever figured out who she was. What led you to Cheyenne Mountain?"

Blair shook his head. "We started following leads, and I don't want to give up any of my sources, but when it comes to secret government projects that might have the resources to kidnap them, this place and the NID kept coming up. Since they were both based around here, we had plans to come this way the moment we knew either of them was in the area."

"How would you know that, though?" Daniel pressed. "You were several states away. You're telling me the connection between you all is strong enough to tell you she was here?" His tone was incredulous. That was something he found quite difficult to believe.

"In a way, yes," Blair answered. "We felt when she was abducted, but she was rendered unconscious, so there was only a vague feeling that told us she was alive and nearby. Then that awareness vanished. We knew she hadn't been killed, but we had no sense of where she was. In the time she was missing, we tracked down possible locations to this area, and when she came through the Stargate, we felt her presence again. It was faint, but there, when it had been missing for weeks. We booked our tickets here and when we landed, I had the message from Colonel O'Neill, so I knew we were in the right place." He shrugged and then his eyes widened. "Phone messages, oh crap. I need to call my Captain and let him know that we're safe and we have Megan. I was supposed to check in hours ago. Mind if I use a phone?" He pointed to the phone on the wall of the kitchen.

"Go ahead," Daniel said, waving toward the phone. "Dial nine to get out of the base." He knew what contingencies would be put in place if an SG team was late calling in, and didn't want to know what might be happening back in Blair's office. He unabashedly listened in to Blair's side of the conversation.

"Hi Simon." He saw Blair wince and hold the phone slightly away from his ear. "Sorry, I couldn't get to a phone earlier. We've got Megan. She was rescued by a military operation, it was a raid on her location. They had no idea she'd be there…. No, Jim wasn't there, he's still missing….. Megan will recover. She's not in the best shape, but she'll be fine with a bit of rest and healthy food…. Thanks, Simon, I'll tell her…. No, we're not coming home just yet. The people here have agreed to include me on the rescue plans and the mission….. Yes, they know. After they found Megan, she suffered an overload. They ran her fingerprints to find out who she was, found her connection to me and looked up information on me. One of the people involved is an old friend, and he knew about my research. They put the pieces together…. I think we're safe for now. They've agreed to keep it quiet…. Yeah, Simon. I believe them. Look, I need to go. Megan's soup is getting cold. I'll report back soon…. Yeah, I'll take care of them. Bye Simon." Blair hung up the phone and turned back to Daniel. "And now, if you can direct me to the infirmary, I need to get Megan's meal to her."

"OK," Daniel agreed, not asking about the phone call. He helped Blair put the soup in covered plastic containers and grabbed a tray to carry it back to the infirmary. When they got there, Megan was sitting up in bed, with a tray in front of her.

"It's about time," Katie said as they came in the door. "We're starving."

"Sorry," Blair said, placing the soup containers down on the tray in front of Megan. "We started talking and lost track of time."

Megan smiled up at Blair. Daniel couldn't help but notice that she already seemed stronger than she had been just a few hours ago. "You? Lose track of time talking? I don't believe it."

Blair gave her a wry grin. "That's nice, I've been slaving away over a hot stove making you chicken soup from scratch, and this is the thanks I get?"

Megan lowered her eyes, but a small smirk played about her lips. "Sorry, honey. I'll be good, I promise. So, do I get to eat now?"

"Of course," Blair said, dropping a kiss on the top of her head and pulling the lids off of the containers. "Never let it be said that I refused to feed you." Megan picked up her spoon and sniffed the bowl of soup.

"Nothing with any flavor tonight, huh?" she asked, glancing up at Blair.

"Hey!" Blair protested, taking up a spoon and starting in on his own bowl. "Now be a good girl and eat all your soup and I might let you have ice cream for dessert."

She shook her head with a laugh and commented, "You're so good to me." Without another comment, she started eating her soup. Daniel sat with them as they ate their meal, and watched the interaction between the three of them. Though they were lighthearted and teasing on the surface, both Katie and Blair watched Megan carefully, with fear hidden just below the surface. Daniel could certainly understand that. Megan had been through a horrible experience, and they had feared losing her forever. Megan seemed to be doing her best to keep up appearances, to join in the laughter and the teasing, but Daniel could see that she was tired and strained. From what Blair had said, he knew the two Guides could clearly see what she was doing, and didn't push her to try to deal with what she had been through. That could wait until she was stronger, more rested.

As they were nearing the end of their meal, Dr. Frasier came back into the room. "Good, I'm glad to see you're eating. If you promise to eat and drink everything your husband and Guide ask, I'll agree that the IV can come out."

"Then you have my adamant agreement," Megan said. "I really hate needles." Dr. Frasier quickly removed the IV from Megan's hand and placed a bit of gauze over the injury. She looked up as an officer entered the room with a wheelchair.

"It looks like your ride is here," Janet said cheerfully. "I'm giving my permission for you to leave the infirmary, as long as you stay close enough for me to reach you if you have any problems in the night. So I'll leave you to the care of your husband and your friend. Lieutenant Caroll will escort you to your rooms for the night."

Megan was staring at the wheelchair with a mulish expression. "I don't need a wheelchair. I can walk on my own."

Katie shook her head and stared at Megan. "Megan, if you tried to so much as stand on your own right now, you'd end up flat on your face. Just accept the help gracefully, please. None of us are in the mood for an argument."

Taking a deep sigh, Megan dropped her head back against her pillow. "Fine," she said, allowing her exhaustion to show for once. She looked at Blair and Katie. "Help me into the chair?"

"You got it," Blair answered, stepping forward and placing an arm behind Megan's back, waiting until she had draped her arm over his shoulders to help her sit at the edge of the bed, then lifted her and placed her in the wheelchair. Katie grabbed the blanket from the bed and placed it over Megan's lap, tucking it in around her legs so that it wouldn't fall into the wheels. Blair grabbed his backpack from the floor and allowed Katie to take control of the wheelchair. "After you," Blair said to their guard, as they exited the room. Daniel escorted them to the guest quarters and saw Katie to her room first, then Blair and Megan to their room next door.

"Good night," Daniel said, watching the door close behind them. He certainly hoped Blair's treatments worked. The young woman he'd married seemed so fragile at the moment, and Daniel could already tell that was not her usual state. He looked forward to getting to know her when she had recovered. But there were other things to think of first. One of the top items in that list was figuring out where Detective Ellison was being held and getting him back home where he belonged. Glancing at his watch, Daniel was stunned to see how long he'd been awake. Perhaps a night's sleep was in order before he started in on perusing the computers that had been brought back from P4X-585. He turned toward his room for the night, hoping to be able to put his concerns aside for the night to get a few hours sleep before tackling all those items on his list.


	6. Chapter 6

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Summary: While raiding an NID base, the members of SG-1 discover an unusual captive, the subject of experimentation and research.

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter Six

When Daniel entered the mess hall the next morning, he found Blair sitting at a table by himself, a guard standing along the wall, keeping an eye on his 'guest'. Daniel grabbed a bowl of oatmeal and a cup of coffee, then took a seat across from his old friend. "So where are your wife and friend?"

Blair glanced up from his breakfast of eggs and pancakes and gave Daniel a smile. "Katie wanted some time to work with Megan before they joined the rest of the population of this fine establishment," he said, waving a fork at the grey walls surrounding them.

"How's she doing?" Daniel asked in concern after allowing a faint grin at Blair's disparagement of the lack of décor.

Blair waggled his hand back and forth. "She's actually doing a lot better this morning. It's obvious that she's exhausted, though. Once she fell asleep, she didn't move through the entire night. She's usually a restless sleeper. At least there were no nightmares last night."

"Is she often bothered by them?" Daniel asked, taking a sip of his coffee while it was still hot.

Blair shrugged. "With everything we've been through, there have been more than a few. I figure once we're home safe and out of the situation, she'll be able to relax her control and we'll start working through what happened out there."

Daniel leaned back in the chair, his eyes hooded. "You're all lucky you have each other."

Blair narrowed his eyes and stared at the archeologist. "Daniel, you've gotten better at hiding your feelings since I saw you last, but as I said, I've gotten pretty good at reading people. There's something you've been avoiding talking about with me, something painful. I see it in your eyes every time you mention Megan. Daniel, what is it?"

Daniel sighed and looked into his coffee cup, focusing on his reflection and avoiding the compassionate gaze of the man across from him. There was silence as Blair allowed him to gather his thoughts. It was a long moment before Daniel spoke. "That first mission to Abydos, I met a woman and fell in love. I stayed behind with Sha're for a year while the people here thought everyone on Abydos, including me, was dead. Then the Goa'uld showed up and took her. They took my wife from me and implanted her with a symbiote, turning her into one of them. I joined SG-1 to find her. She died last year after I spent three years looking for her. I couldn't save her, Blair."

"Daniel," Blair whispered in horror. "Oh, man, I am so sorry. I had no idea." He reached over and put a hand on Daniel's arm in sympathy.

"Thanks," Daniel acknowledged the gesture and the emotion behind it, but pulled his arm away. "I'm coming to terms with it. At least I know she's not suffering at the whims of a Goa'uld any more. So in a way, she was saved, just not the way I'd always hoped." He dug up a faint smile for the younger man, trying to reassure him.

Blair nodded, apparently accepting what Daniel was trying not to say, that he didn't want to go into any detail and discuss it here. "When this is all over, I'd like you to come for a visit, Daniel, give us the chance to catch up. It's been awhile since we've had a chance to talk."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Daniel said, gratefully taking the offering to put this talk off for awhile. Now was not the time to get into this topic. It was a topic better discussed in solitude with alcohol ready at hand.

Blair glanced back over his shoulder, and Daniel followed his gaze just in time to see Megan and Katie walk though the door with their own guard. They walked straight over to the table and Megan dropped easily into the chair next to Blair. "Good morning," she said brightly as Katie stood at the end of the table, glancing over at the breakfast offerings.

"Good morning. You look like you're feeling a lot better," Daniel responded to her cheerful greeting. Studying her, he found few signs of the exhaustion and pain she had shown all too clearly last night.

"It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do for you," Megan said with a grin. "Almost back to normal."

Blair shot her a suspicious look, and Daniel narrowed his eyes at the unusual behavior. Megan blithely ignored him, then stood up and leaned on the back of the chair. "I'll be right back. Not that the offerings smell much like real food, but I'm starving." With that, she pushed away from the table and headed for the chow line. Katie caught the look Blair sent her, shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, then turned to follow Megan to load up a tray with breakfast.

"What was that about?" Daniel asked Blair as he watched the women with a frown on his face.

"She's up to something," Blair said softly, crossing his arms over his chest. "Katie knows about it and isn't happy. She seems resigned to it, though."

"Is she really as recovered as she seems?" Daniel asked, watching how easily she moved, no sign of the pain or stiffness from yesterday evident.

A sigh escaped Blair. "She's certainly much better than she was yesterday. She's covering, though. Even as quickly as she heals, there's no way she could be back to a hundred percent with just a single night's rest."

"Don't you know what she's planning?" Daniel asked. He wouldn't say anything about it in a mess hall full of people, but he knew Blair would understand that he was referring to their abilities to read each other's minds.

"No, but I can guess. Let me just say that Megan's not one to sit on the sidelines. I'll bet you anything that she's about to ask to get involved in some way." Daniel couldn't help but chuckle at Blair's wry expression. His eyes widened at the pile of food on Megan's tray as she and Katie re-joined them at the table.

"Got enough there?" he couldn't help but ask. "The only person I've ever seen eat that much at one sitting was Teal'c."

Megan raised an eyebrow at him. "I haven't had a decent meal in two weeks and the soup last night didn't go very far. I have a high metabolism and need to eat a lot to keep up my strength, or in this case, re-build it. Do you have a problem with that?"

Raising his hands in surrender, Daniel sat back in his chair. "No, no problem." He glanced aside at Blair and found a faint grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. Looking back to Megan, he caught her smile and realized she wasn't as offended as she had seemed. He tilted his head to the side and gave her a quick grin in return before picking up his cup and taking a sip of his quickly cooling coffee.

Things were silent for awhile as Megan and Katie dug into their breakfast. Daniel watched in amazement as Megan steadily worked her way through her heavily laden plate. "How can you eat that, especially with an enhanced sense of taste? I tried their sausages only once."

"I have my sense of taste turned down," Megan confided. "I need food, and you're right, this is hardly gourmet fare."

As Megan neared the end of her meal, Blair put his arms on the table. "Out with it, Megan. What are you planning?"

"What?" Megan asked with an innocent expression on her face. Blair just raised an eyebrow and stared at her in silence. A sigh escaped her and she dropped the act, a serious look replacing the affected innocence. "OK, fine." She turned to face Daniel. "I need to be involved in finding Jim. I can't stand the thought of him out there in their hands while I'm just sitting around here twiddling my thumbs."

"You need to take the time to recover from your ordeal," Blair urged her. "You're not in any shape to be getting involved in a rescue."

"I'm only asking to observe the interrogations right now," she said. "I understand that I'm not in shape to be out there on a mission of any kind, not yet. But I can't just sit around with nothing to do. I'll go crazy if all I can do is think about what happened to me and what might be happening to Jim. Daniel, I need to talk to the General and ask him if I can help. Please don't keep me out of this. I need to be involved."

Unable to resist the plea in her voice, Daniel glanced at Blair and saw the understanding in his eyes. Knowing that Megan was doing her best to push away the memories of her captivity and to occupy her mind with something useful, Daniel dropped his head in a gesture of defeat. "I'll take you to see the General as soon as everyone is finished with their meal."

"Thank you, Daniel," she said softly. She reached over and placed her hand on Blair's arm. "And thank you, too. I know you're not happy about me jumping back into things so soon."

Blair rested a hand over hers. "Megan, you're a protector, I know that. You can no more stand aside while a friend is in danger than you could stop breathing." He twined his fingers with hers. "Just make sure you don't push yourself too hard, ok? Listen to Katie. When she says it's enough, you stop and rest."

"Deal," Megan said with a soft smile.

"You still have to convince General Hammond," Daniel pointed out, folding his arms on the table.

"Then let's go talk to him," Katie said, pushing her tray away. "I've spent the past two weeks trying to track down my best friend. We're going to find my husband long before that if I have anything to say about it."

Daniel realized that Katie had been rather quiet since he had met her, but he didn't get the feeling that it was her usual demeanor. Her words made him think it was worry that was keeping her from reacting as she normally would. "Sure, let's go." He showed them where to put up their breakfast trays, took a small detour to refill his coffee cup, then led them through the halls to General Hammond's office. Daniel knocked on the door and waited until he heard the General's voice beckoning them to enter.

The General rose from behind his desk when he saw the people at his door. "Mr. and Mrs. Sandburg, Mrs. Ellison. Dr. Jackson." He greeted them and then offered the women the two chairs in front of his desk. Katie guided Megan to take one chair and then sat in the other, after which Hammond took his seat again. "You appear to be feeling better," he said, giving Megan an appraising look.

"I'm doing much better, thank you," she replied, clasping her hands in her lap.

"What can I do for you?" the General asked. He looked over at Blair. "We don't have any more information on a location, yet, if that's why you're here."

Megan looked at Katie, then back up at Blair before looking back to the General. "In fact, that is why we're here. I'd like to help you in the search for the location. My skills are optimal for tasks like surveillance and observation. I would like to observe the interrogations of those you took prisoner from the raid. I can point out who's lying when and pick out those most likely to break and give you valid information. I've seen most of the people in that lab over the last couple of weeks, and I can tell you now that most of them are true believers in their cause, and won't give you their compatriots. Some of the scientists will try to work things to their advantage, offering to work for you if you'll fund them, but I think there are a few people who were bothered by what was going on, and they might be willing to speak. I can tell you my initial impressions of the people based on what I saw in the lab, but I would be able to tell you more once I've watched some of the interrogations."

General Hammond watched Megan intently, and Daniel was quite impressed that she didn't seem the least bit uncomfortable under that gaze, and simply held her eyes fixed on his. Hammond appeared to be thinking over her offer. "Are you sure you're recovered enough to help in this way?"

"Observing a few interrogations, either in person or watching on video isn't going to put a major strain on me," Megan pointed out. "I'm certainly able to do that much. And I need to be involved, General Hammond. They have my friend, Katie's husband, Blair's Sentinel. None of us will rest until he's safely returned to us." Her voice was calm and her expression composed, but Daniel could tell how important this was to her, and from the look on Hammond's face, he could also see it.

With a short nod, Hammond sat back in his chair. "Very well. I'll arrange to have you view the initial interrogations. I don't want to put you in the same room with your former captors, so I don't want you observing the interviews in person. But for the live interviews, I can have a video feed sent to you. Would that be acceptable?"

"That would be fine," Megan replied. "Thank you for your understanding, General Hammond."

The General turned to Daniel. "I was going to ask you if you would watch the interrogations and give me your impressions as well."

"Of course, General," Daniel answered. While it was hardly his specialty, he was often used as a de-facto profiler due to the fact that he was considered good at reading people, observant enough to pick up the details that others missed. "Is there a room already set up, or should we go to my office?"

"I have a meeting room set up already," Hammond said. He gave Daniel a folder with all of the paperwork they had on the prisoners with a sticky note on the front with the room number. "That's everything we have so far."

Daniel nodded to him. "Then, if you don't mind, I think we'll go and get started on the videos."

"I'll look forward to hearing what all of you have to say," Hammond replied, standing to usher them out of the office. Megan and Katie stood and Blair inclined his head toward the kindly man running Stargate Command.

Once they left the office, Daniel led the way through the hallways to the room set aside for their use. He gestured at the chairs around the table and turned on the computer terminal. "Might as well make yourselves comfortable. We could be here awhile."

Daniel glanced at Megan as they all took a seat. "So how do you normally work when you're watching interrogations? Blair told me it's nearly impossible to lie to a Sentinel, so how does that work? Can you get as much from a video as from a live interview?"

"Good question," Megan responded. "No, I can't get nearly the amount of information from a video that I can from a live interview. It really helps if I can be in the room with the person as they're answering questions."

"What's the difference?" Daniel asked, truly curious about what her capabilities were.

"The difference is that on a video, a Sentinel's senses don't really give that much advantage," Katie explained. "Megan can listen to a person's heart rate from across a room to determine a slight change in rhythm indicating a fabrication. She can smell the faintest scent of fear to indicate nervousness, or see a drop of sweat trickling down their temple. A video won't capture any of that."

"A video camera isn't sensitive enough to pick up the sound of a heartbeat," Megan put in. "So most of what I would do in a live interview isn't an option."

Daniel thought back to finding Megan in that dark cell. Before speaking to him, she had latched on to his wrist, and Daniel just now realized what that had been about. "That's what you were doing," he said softly. "You were checking my pulse when we first met."

Megan shrugged. "My sense of hearing was too high and far too unreliable for me to trust it. Touch wasn't much better off, but by combining them, I was able to decide you could be trusted."

"I'm glad you decided that," the archeologist said with a shake of his head. "But if you're hobbled that much by watching a video of the interviews, why did you agree when General Hammond offered to feed the live interviews over a video?"

"There are still things I can glean from watching," Megan insisted. "Facial expressions, body language, a change in vocal patterns; there are many ways to determine when someone is lying, or when they might be persuaded to cooperate further. It's just that now it won't be any more than any trained observer would notice." She shrugged. "And your General doesn't know me, he doesn't know how I'll react in an interview room, what I might say. He won't dare put me in a room with my former captives. If I prove that I can be useful now, he might be more willing later to let me help in other ways."

"What ways?" Katie asked suspiciously, narrowing her eyes. She placed her hands on her hips and stared at her long-time friend.

Megan rolled her eyes. "Don't be so suspicious, Katie. I'm just planning on asking to sit in on some of the interviews later."

"Well, how about we start on the video ones now?" Blair asked, sitting across from them at the table. Daniel thought he looked a bit nervous, but was hiding it under a veil of impatience.

"Very well," Katie said, dropping the subject, but giving Megan one last sidelong look.

Daniel keyed up the first video, and made sure everyone in the room had a tablet of paper and pen to record their observations of the interviews. Sitting back in his chair, he pushed play, and a view of Colonel O'Neill leaning back in a chair across the table from one of the guards from the covert installation. Jack started by stating the person's name and then started in on the questions.

Becoming absorbed in the videos, Daniel lost track of time as he sorted through the lies and half-truths told by those on the other side of the table. Too many of them maintained a stubborn silence, making it difficult to get a read on them. As they finished the last one on file, he put his pen down on the table, took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. Hours of staring at the computer screen did tend to irritate his eyes horribly. He looked over at the others to see a grimace on Megan's face.

Katie reached over with one hand and started kneading the muscles in Megan's shoulder. "Man, you're tense. Headache?"

"You could say that," Megan said, dropping her head to the top of her hands, folded on the table.

Standing up, Katie moved to stand behind her Sentinel and began massaging her shoulders. "Was it too many hours of video?" She looked at her watch. "It's about lunch time. You need to eat. I'm sure that will help."

"I'm sure it will," Megan said, not lifting her head from the table. "But that's not the reason I have the headache." She sighed and sat up straight in her chair, tilting her head back to look up at her friend. "No offense, but I think you and Blair are causing my headache."

"What?" Blair asked in concern, leaning forward. "What do you mean?"

She looked over to her husband. "The two of you are wound so tight, you're about to snap from the strain. Or at least that's how it feels." She rubbed her forehead, trying to erase the pain. "My controls aren't what they normally are. I can't block you guys right now." She shuddered. "I can still feel that crap they gave me screwing things up."

"I'm sorry," Katie said, pulling her hands away from Megan. "I'll try to relax, but watching those interviews…"

"Yeah, I know, they bothered me, too," Megan said softly.

Daniel realized with a start that while he was busy taking notes on the interrogations, listening to the doctors talk about their research, the three of them had been listening to the doctors talking about torturing Megan. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "I should have thought…"

"Don't apologize," Megan interrupted. "This is what I asked for. I knew what to expect. It was just a little more difficult for all of us, I think."

"How can I help?" he asked. "Do you need some aspirin or something? We could detour by the infirmary if you need something."

"Do you have an exercise room around here, something with mats on the floor?" Megan's question surprised Daniel, and prompted a glare from Katie.

"You are in no shape for a workout," Katie insisted, leaning against the table and staring hard at Megan.

"Not me," the Sentinel said in exasperation. "For you two." She gestured between her Guide and husband. "Contrary to popular opinion, I am aware that I have limitations. You're absolutely right. I'm not going to be able to do much of anything today, no matter how badly I would love to crank up the music and go through a kata or two. The two of you need to work off some of that nervous energy, for my sake as well as your own." She gave a little chuckle. "I don't really care what you do, whether it's something like Tai Chi, boxing, practice your hand-to-hand, or whatever. Just so long as you're calmer at the end of it."

Blair rolled his shoulders and stretched. "Much as I hate to admit it, I agree. But you have to agree to something for me."

"And what would that be?" Megan asked, tilting her head and giving her husband a cautious look.

"You need to meditate, see if you can regain your controls," Blair said, glancing between her and Katie.

Megan gave a short laugh. "Ok, fine. You use my preferred relaxation method and I'll use yours. Sounds only fair." She glanced up at Katie. "So, do you mind me trying that on my own while the two of you work out? I'll just choose a quiet corner in the same room so you can keep an eye on me, if that will make you feel better."

Daniel was confused. "You're just going to be meditating. Why would they have a problem with that?"

Kate was the one to respond. "When Megan is not well, her controls slip and she's more likely to fall into a zone-out. That's when she focuses on one sense so intently that she loses track of all the rest, including her surroundings. Those aren't a good thing, so we try to avoid them. Megan knows very well that I need to keep a close eye on her until she's back to normal strength."

"I could sit with her, if she needs supervision," Daniel suggested.

"**SHE **can speak for herself," Megan said, drawing their attention back to her. "And as long as you don't speak about me as if I were not here, I'd appreciate your company, Daniel." She picked up her notebook and tapped it. "But first we need to drop these off with the General."

Daniel held his hand out, asking for the papers, which she easily handed over. He glanced through them, then raised his eyebrows, impressed at the amount of detail she had recorded. "I think Hammond will find this quite helpful, indeed." Gathering up the tablets, he tucked them under his arm. "Shall we go, then?"

After dropping off the papers with the General and telling him their initial impressions of who would be most likely to give up valid information, Daniel led them to one of the exercise rooms.

Katie and Blair found a set of unoccupied mats and took off their shoes. By unspoken consent, they fell into a relaxed ready stance used in Tai Chi. As they started a routine of slow, graceful flowing moves, Megan watched them with a satisfied smile. "Good. They're doing very well. Though Blair needs to relax his shoulders just a little." As she said that, Daniel could see the tension ease from Blair's shoulders and the movements seemed to come easier for him.

"I get the impression you really enjoy the martial arts," Daniel said conversationally, gesturing for Megan to take a seat on the floor against a wall, out of the way.

"I should. I started taking karate when I was ten," she said with a chuckle. "I teach some of the lower level classes at home." She leaned back against the wall and watched as the others worked through the routine. "Blair doesn't like the idea of learning to fight, though he knows it's necessary. Physical force is always his last resort. Blair would much rather talk his way out of a situation, or find some other, less traditional way to stop a perp." She grinned. "His mind is truly his greatest weapon."

"Yeah, I've seen that," Daniel said, grinning as he remembered a time, years ago. "Blair and I went out to a bar once, and while we were there, one of the other patrons took issue with him."

"Let me guess, it was over a woman," Megan said, giving Daniel a sidelong glance.

Daniel wasn't quite sure how to answer that, considering that he was speaking to the man's wife.

She waved a hand in the air. "Don't worry, Daniel. I do know about his reputation with women. He was the teaching assistant of one of my classes, an introduction to anthropology class. Half the girls in the class had a crush on him, and his love life was the subject of a great deal of gossip."

Daniel's eyes widened. "You started dating your teacher?" He knew there was an age gap between Blair and Megan, but it was only a few years, and he hadn't considered that they would have met as teacher and student. "Don't the universities frown on that kind of thing?"

A soft laugh escaped Megan. "I didn't start dating him then. I finished the class and went on with my schooling. It wasn't until I was about to graduate and wanted to talk to someone about graduate school that we met up again. We didn't start dating until after I graduated, so don't worry, no lines were crossed there."

Daniel shrugged. "Well, it wasn't really my business anyway." He backtracked quickly, not wanting her to think he was being nosy, even though he was quite curious about how Blair had found not one, but two Sentinels when most thought they had only been a myth.

"So, you were telling me about a time you were out at a bar together?" She raised an eyebrow, turning to face him. "You have certainly piqued my interest. You've known him longer than I have. Please do continue."

Thinking back to the incident, he made himself more comfortable, slouching down against the wall. "You're right that a woman was involved. She had been flirting with Blair, and he certainly didn't seem to mind. Unfortunately, she had a rather large boyfriend in the bar that got jealous when she talked to other men. As you can imagine, he didn't take kindly to a long-haired student chatting up his girlfriend. He tried to intimidate Blair, looking to start a fight. Your husband, of course, immediately starts trying to talk him down. The guy had been drinking a little too much, so I doubt he followed half of what Blair said."

Megan laughed. "Ah, talking people into submission, or at least confusion. He's very good at that."

Daniel laughed with her. "Well, he certainly did confuse the guy. I thought for a moment there that he had been successful and the other man would back down. Unfortunately, he decided he would rather fight and took a swing at Blair. I've got to give it to him, your husband is pretty nimble. He managed to dodge the punches aimed at him, and ducked down behind the pool table. When Mr. big, drunk and ugly chased after him, Blair rolled the pool balls under his feet. He slipped and fell backward, knocking himself out. We took that as our cue to leave."

Megan was laughing through most of his story. "Yeah, that sounds like Blair. He hasn't changed."

Blair looked over from the mat. "What's so funny over there?"

"Nothing," Daniel said, giving Blair an innocent look.

Megan shot him a conspiratorial grin. "Daniel's just been telling me tales of your misbegotten youth."

"That's hardly fair," Blair grumbled, crossing over to crouch beside Megan. "You sent us off to exercise just so you could quiz my old friend?" He was barely able to hold the mock frown as he spoke. He finally gave in to the grin. "I'm glad you're having a good time. How's the headache?"

She looked at him in surprise. "Gone."

"Good." He reached out and cupped her face with a hand. "Now, weren't you supposed to be meditating?"

She gave him a lopsided grin. "OK, you're right. I'll hold up my end of the deal. Are you finished, or do you need to get back?"

He looked back over his shoulder to see Katie continuing the routine, but she glanced over and gestured for him to return. Looking back to his wife, he gave her a wry look. "Seems I should finish. Just close your eyes and relax. Let the world fade away and focus on your dials, work on blocking the external stimuli."

With his words, Megan sat up straighter, closed her eyes, crossed her legs and took a deep breath, her muscles loosening as she relaxed. Daniel watched in amazement as Megan followed Blair's words without a word of protest and slipped effortlessly into a meditative state.

"How did you do that?" Daniel asked softly, afraid of disturbing Megan.

"A Sentinel is primed to listen to the voice of a Guide. In times of trouble, it may be the only thing that they will respond to, the only thing that can pull them out of a deep zone-out." Blair smiled as Megan made a shooing motion with her hand. "Fine," he said quietly, leaning forward to kiss her on the forehead. "I'll stop disturbing you." He pushed himself to a standing position and walked backwards toward Katie. "Just keep an eye on her, Daniel."

Daniel just leaned back against the wall, shaking his head and feeling a bit like Alice having just fallen down the rabbit hole. He sat beside Megan as she sank deeper into her meditation, wondering just what he was supposed to be watching for. It was another half hour before Katie and Blair finished their workout, and came back over to plop down beside Daniel and Megan. Katie reached out a hand and touched the Sentinel's shoulder. "Time to come back, Megan."

Megan took a deep breath and slowly opened her eyes, pulling her arms out in front of her body and stretching. Daniel frowned as the bandages around her wrists poked out from under the sleeves of her shirt. She must have felt his renewed concern, because she glanced aside at him and pulled her sleeves back down to cover the bandages.

"How are you feeling?" Katie asked her, examining her with a look.

"Fine, but before we head to lunch, could we detour by our rooms for you two to shower and change?" Megan gave them an impish look. "No offense, but you need it."

Blair reached out and poked her in the arm. "That's a nice thing to say to the love of your life." Megan grabbed hold of his hand and entwined her fingers with his.

Katie just rolled her eyes at Megan, then stood up. "Much as I hate to agree with you, you're right. A shower sounds very good right now."

Daniel rose to his feet as Blair did the same, tugging Megan up with him.

"If you don't mind, I think I'll just leave you with your escort," Daniel said. "I have a couple of things I need to get done. Meet you in the mess hall in about half an hour?" When they nodded in agreement, Daniel took his leave of them.


	7. Chapter 7

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Title: Past, Present, Prologue

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

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Chapter Seven

After speaking to General Hammond, Daniel ran by his office to see if he had any messages or e-mails that needed a response. Finding only a couple with any urgency, he sent off the e-mails, locked his computer and made his way to the mess hall. There was no sign of the three he agreed to meet, so he filled his tray and took a seat at an empty table and started reading from the file folder he had brought from his office. It was only as he was nearing the end of his meal that he saw the group from Cascade enter the room.

Megan was yawning as Blair steered her through the room and urged her to take a seat across the table from Daniel. "Sorry we're running late," Blair said. "Megan fell asleep while I was in the shower and I didn't want to wake her if she needed the sleep."

With another yawn, Megan stretched her arms over her head. "Can I help it if the meditation relaxed me so much that I fell asleep nearly as soon as I sat down on the bed?"

Katie placed a hand on Blair's shoulder and gave him a look that Daniel couldn't quite decipher. "Sleep is probably a good thing for her," she said, reaching down to rest her other hand on Megan's shoulder. "You both know that sleep and food are the best way to help her recover." She glanced over at the buffet line. "And speaking of food, I think I hear it calling my name. I'm starving." She kept her hand on Megan's shoulder to keep her from getting up. "I'll bring something back. Do you want anything specific?"

Megan shook her head. "No, you know what I like." She lowered her head to rest on her crossed arms on the table as Blair and Katie headed off to pick up trays of food.

"Are you all right?" Daniel asked, glancing back and forth between Megan and the guides walking away. He was a little concerned about being left alone with the Sentinel when she wasn't in the best shape.

"Relax, Daniel," Megan mumbled, tilting her head to glance up at him without lifting her head. "I'm not going to zone out or anything else. I'm just tired. It's going to take a little while before I'm back up to full speed." She sat back upright, rolling her shoulders and stretching her arms out in front of her. "Ow," she complained, holding a hand to her side, having apparently pulled at an injury.

Daniel realized he had no idea how badly she might have been injured in her time as a captive. He wasn't sure how to ask the question on his mind, though, and hesitated to speak. Megan glanced back at him, picking up on the train of his thoughts, though Daniel wasn't sure if she was actually reading his mind, or just his emotions.

"It's just a few bruises," she answered. "Mostly healed now. I made an escape attempt in the first week I was there. I took out my guard and made it outside. It was pretty obvious to me that I wasn't on Earth, and I didn't have a clue how to get back home. Still, I was able to stay in the woods and give them the slip for a few hours. Let's just say they weren't very gentle when they caught me and brought me back to the facility. After that, they kept me drugged so that I couldn't escape again."

"There was a guard with his arm in a sling," Daniel commented. "Your work?"

Megan shrugged. "He got in my way."

Daniel wasn't sure how to react to that. He was angry on her behalf at what she had been through, but he wanted to laugh at the off-hand comment about taking the guards out. She was a lot more dangerous than she looked, but then, he thought the same could be said of Blair and Katie as well.

Looking up as her husband and friend took their seats at the table, Megan smiled at the plates being placed in front of her. As with breakfast, her plate was piled high, and there were two more of the bottles of water that Katie had been pushing on her the whole day. "You're so good to me," she said, grinning back at them.

Things were quiet for a time as everyone devoured their food. Daniel paged through his reports while they ate. As they were finishing up, Jack dropped into a chair next to Daniel. "So," he said, looking at Blair, "ready for that weapons qualification?"

Blair looked back and forth between Megan and Katie, who indicated that they were done eating. Turning to the colonel, Blair nodded his head. "Yep. Let us just put the trays away." He stood and took his and Megan's trays over, followed by Katie.

Jack watched Blair and Katie walk away, then turned to Megan. "From that, can I assume that you're also joining us at the shooting range?"

Megan gave him an impish grin. "You really think he's about to let me out of his sight just yet? That either one of them is?" She shrugged. "Anyway, I could use a practice session. It's a good stress reliever… imagining the targets to be the ones who grabbed me."

Daniel gave her a sidelong glance. "That sounds a little more bloodthirsty than I might have expected from you."

The flat expression that she turned on him reminded Daniel of so many of the soldiers he had met. "I didn't say I'd actually shoot them if given a chance, Daniel, though I wouldn't hesitate if someone were in danger." Her expression lightened a little. "It's mostly just a way to work through some issues." She shook her head ruefully as Blair and Katie returned to the table. Allowing Blair to pull her to her feet, she continued as they started for the door. "Your father would be so disappointed in me."

"Why is that?" Daniel asked as Blair just shot her a wry grin. He had heard enough of the conversation to know what she was talking about, but Daniel still didn't know why her father-in-law would take issue with her.

"Mac hates guns," Blair explained. "He's not thrilled that I carry one as part of my job, but he understands it. Being the one who trained Megan and Katie, though, he had hoped to impress on them the evils of guns."

"Yeah, that didn't take," Megan said, shrugging. "While we don't often have a need to carry them, we are quite proficient with them. And he really hates that we're so comfortable with them."

"Wait a moment," Jack said, stopping in the corridor, forcing the others to come to a halt as well. "Who is your father?" Daniel wasn't sure what to make of the expression on Jack's face. It was something like a mix of shock, comprehension, and familiarity.

Blair looked at Jack with a dawning understanding. "My father's name is MacGyver. Can I take it you know him?"

Jack's face went through some unusual contortions as he answered. "Yeah, he's a distant cousin. We have the same however many greats grandfather, a guy named Ernest Pratt who wrote dime novels back in the 1870's." Jack stared at Blair in disbelief. "I realize it's been a few years since I spoke to Mac, but I'm pretty sure it hasn't been long enough for him to have a thirty year old son!"

Blair shrugged slightly. "We only met a few years ago. He didn't know I existed and I didn't know who he was. It's a long story, and I'm not about to go into it here, but let's just say we've grown pretty close after finding out the truth." He tilted his head as he examined Jack. "Well, that explains the resemblance. So I guess we're related…cousin?"

A bemused look crossed his face as he looked back and forth between Blair and Megan. "I guess so," he said. Not seeming to know what to do with this new information, Jack turned and started leading the way down the corridor to the shooting range.

Seeing Megan's lips twitch as she started walking again, Daniel leaned in to ask her what was so funny. She shot him a glance and nodded toward Jack. "He's not too happy about this latest development. Seems that while he likes Mac, he's always thought him a trouble magnet, and from what he's seen of us, figures we're no different." A thoughtful look crossed her face as she studied the back of the man. "This has changed things for him, though. He feels more responsibility toward us now, finding out that we're family, however distant." She shook her head slightly. "I don't think he likes that new responsibility, especially since he's been ordered to include Blair on the rescue mission. The thought of something happening to his cousin's son weighs heavy on his mind." Her eyes were troubled as she turned to Daniel. "That's a familiar feeling for him, the loss of a child, isn't it?"

Staring intently at her, Daniel touched her arm, slowing them until they were lagging behind everyone else. "I thought Blair said you couldn't read minds?"

"I'm not reading his mind," she replied softly, not wanting to be overheard. "At least, not really. He feels things very strongly, though he may be very good at hiding that fact from strangers. His emotions are bouncing all over the place right now, and yes, I'm picking up a few of his thoughts. Amplified emotions always enhance my ability to pick up on the thoughts of a person. And besides, I've got a really close connection to Blair and Mac. While I don't know Jack, he is related to them, and that connection makes it easier for me to read him than most people that I've just met." She turned worried eyes toward Jack, then back to Daniel. "But please don't tell him that. I don't want to make him uncomfortable around me, and I just know he'd hate the fact that I'm able to read him so easily."

"You're right about that," Daniel answered. "Ah, we're here," he announced, putting an end to their conversation as they walked through the door into the shooting range. He noticed Megan wince and turn her head aside slightly as they entered. Hearing the sound of gunfire echoing in the enclosed area beyond the interior door, he looked at Megan in concern. "Is that too loud?"

"I just need to adjust my hearing," Megan said. "I wasn't paying attention." She was silent for a moment, her gaze turning inward before her eyes focused on him again. "OK, I'm ready."

Jack brought them over to a table laid out with a variety of handguns, larger weapons such as P-90's and even a couple of alien devices, one of which Megan surely recognized as the weapon used against her during her captivity.

"Let's start with handguns," Jack said. "Choose one you feel comfortable with and show me what you know." Jack was speaking to Blair, and frowned when Megan and Katie both stepped up to the table with the detective. Shrugging, he let it go.

Blair reached for a nine-millimeter that was similar to his service weapon. Megan and Katie each chose similar handguns, holding the gun for a moment to check the heft of the weapon to see how it felt to them. After they chose their weapons, Jack handed them each a set of ear protection, picked up the ammunition clips to match their weapons, and looked each one of them in the eyes. "When we go in, you'll each find an unoccupied spot on the firing line. I will hand you your ammunition, at which point you will load your weapon. I will give you the signal, at which time you will empty your clip, eject it, place both gun and clip down on the table and step back. Understood?" They all nodded in understanding, and Jack motioned for them to put on their ear protection. Daniel grabbed a set for himself and ignored Jack's glare as he followed them inside. He was curious to see what their skill levels were, as well.

They each chose an unoccupied station and placed their guns on the table in front of them. Jack handed them their ammunition clips one at a time and watched to see that they inserted it correctly. Daniel watched as they each loaded their guns with ease. Jack nodded, then gestured for them to step up to the firing line. They each took their position and settled into a trained firing stance. Jack gave the signal, and they began firing, emptying their clips as ordered, then ejected the clips, placing the two pieces down and stepping back. Jack stepped forward, collecting their clips and inspecting their weapons before pushing the buttons to bring the paper targets to the firing line.

Daniel stepped forward to look at the targets and was impressed that Blair's shots were all within the center of mass, in the chest of the outline. When they brought Katie's target forward, hers showed the same skill. But the one that Daniel was most impressed with was Megan's. When her target was brought forward, all of the holes were head shots, clustered within a two inch radius. Jack gave her a surprised look. "Nice."

Megan shrugged a shoulder. "Yeah, not so impressive when you think about it." Her words indicated that she had been using her enhanced sight.

They went through the same routine with the larger weapons, and while they had showed more ease with the handguns, all three of them were proficient enough with the P-90's to satisfy Jack. That just left the zats. Megan glared at it, not willing to pick it up.

"What are those?" Katie asked, glancing sideways at Megan, then turning her attention back to Jack, who was about to explain the weapon.

"This is an alien weapon that we have found quite useful," Jack said. "They're called zats."

"Well, actually, they're zat'ni'katels," Daniel interrupted. "We just call them zats."

"Regardless of what they're called," Jack responded with a glare at Daniel, "they're a weapon that can be used as a non-lethal device. One shot from a zat incapacitates the victim, causing a great deal of pain."

"Tell me about it," Megan said, rubbing her arms. "It seems to make all your nerve endings fire at once, sending out pain impulses as if you're being electrocuted."

Blair and Katie each reached out a hand to Megan in comfort, Blair reaching for her hand, and Katie resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah," Jack said, his expression softening a little. "They're not fun to get shot with. I think it's happened to about everyone who's stepped through that gate at least once. Anyway, to continue, one shot incapacitates. Two shots kills and three disintegrates. If you're using one of these, be sure never to fire a second shot at the same subject if you don't want them dead. For most people, the first time they're shot with one, it knocks them unconscious. For those with a little more exposure to them, they do manage to stay alert, though moving becomes quite difficult."

"Well, that explains why they always made sure several hours had passed before they used that thing on me again," Megan said, still glaring at the device.

"Would you care to try it on the target?" Jack asked, holding it out to her. "It might help."

Megan gave him a thoughtful look. "OK, I'll give it a try." Jack showed her how to activate it and how to fire it. "Looks simple enough," she said, nodding as Jack led her back through to the firing line. She took a ready stance and aimed at the target, firing off one shot and then another. Glancing back to Jack, she saw him nod, and she turned back and shot once more, watching in surprise as the paper target vanished. "Wow," she said, de-activating the zat and placing it back down on the table. She stepped back and rubbed her hands on her jeans.

"What is it?" Katie asked in concern, stepping forward and taking Megan's hands in hers, turning them over to inspect the palms.

"My hands are tingling," Megan said, balling her hands into fists and then opening them. "It kind of feels like they fell asleep, or like I just touched a low level live current."

"Really?" Jack stepped forward and picked up the zat, activating it and, stepping up to another target, fired off a shot. He glanced down at his hands, then de-activated the zat. "Nothing odd to me." Looking back to Megan, who was still shaking her hands as if they were bothering her, he shook his head. "No zats for you."

"I'll just stick to a nine-mil if that's all right with you," Megan said, moving away from the firing line back to the observation room.

Jack held out a hand to keep Blair from following. "I need to see that you can handle a zat, though. If you're going on a mission with us, I need to know that you can handle any of the weapons we might be using, just in case."

Blair nodded in understanding and took Jack's previous position at the line, picked up the zat, armed and at Jack's signal, fired twice at the target before deactivating the device and putting it down. "Good enough?" Jack nodded and Blair walked away from the firing line, giving the zat a last disgusted look.

"I don't think they like the zat," Daniel murmured to Jack as the colonel joined him in the doorway.

"Well, they don't have to like it, as long as Sandburg knows how to use it." Jack responded, entering the observation room where the other three were waiting.

"OK, that's good enough," Jack said, looking at them. "I'm satisfied. You all know how to handle a weapon." He looked at Blair. "I'm hoping to keep you away from any situation where you'll have to use one, but I've been in this game too long not to know that things don't often go according to plan. As long as you know how to use a weapon, I'll consider it good."

"Speaking of plans," Megan spoke up from near the door leading back to the corridors, "do we know where Jim is being held yet?"

Jack shook his head. "Not yet. I had a few interrogations this morning, and based on the notes you and Daniel took of the earlier sessions, I have a few more planned for this afternoon. Do you want to watch them on video as well?" From Jack's tone of voice, Daniel knew that he was impressed with the observations she had already made of the earlier interrogations. He wouldn't have invited her to give feedback otherwise.

"Yes, I would," Megan answered, and the other two nodded their agreement as well.

"Good, then," Jack said. He glanced at his watch. "I'm going to get started in about an hour. I have a few things to do in the meantime. Daniel, could you take them back to the observation room in an hour? I'd like you to watch as well."

"Sure, Jack," Daniel said. He opened the door and held it as everyone exited the firing range back into the warren of corridors that made up Stargate Command. "So," he asked as Jack walked away. "What would the three of you like to do for the next hour?"

"Take a nap?" Megan asked with a tired grin. Katie and Blair turned identical looks of suspicion on her.

It was Katie who voiced the question they both obviously had. "Why are you so tired?"

Megan gave her an affronted look. "I'm recovering from two weeks captivity, isn't that enough?" That was the very question Daniel would have asked, but it apparently wasn't enough of a reason for Katie, who began musing out loud.

"Yes, you are recovering, so I would expect some more fatigue than usual, but after a full night's sleep, and an hour long nap not so long ago, you shouldn't be tired enough for another nap. It was only after the meditation that you started feeling so tired all the time." She nailed Megan in place with her eyes. "What did you do?"

With a sigh and a roll of her eyes, Megan gave in. "Fine, I did do something." She glanced around at the empty corridor. "I just tweaked my ability to heal, sped it up a bit. I need to clear this gunk out of my system, and I'd rather not be in pain anymore."

"You did what?" Daniel asked, confused. "You can do that?"

"Why didn't you tell us?" Katie scolded her. "We needed to know what you did, to keep a better eye on you. Come on, we're going to the infirmary." She glared down Megan's protests and grabbed onto her arm. "No protests out of you."

As they started down the hallways back to the infirmary, Blair took pity on Daniel's confusion and explained. "As a Sentinel, Megan has a pretty fine control over her body, more than anyone else could hope to achieve. She diverted more of her body's energy toward healing, but doing so puts a greater strain on her. In order to provide this greater level of energy, she needs to eat and drink more often and get more rest. She basically just sped up her metabolism, how efficiently her body can produce energy. While Megan does know what she's doing, we need to know what she's up to, so we can keep an eye on her. Her body temperature and blood pressure tend to rise when she's doing this, and we need to monitor her to make sure they don't reach dangerous levels."

Daniel shook his head in amazement. "With everything you tell me about this, the more surreal it all gets."

Blair raised an eyebrow. "More surreal than traveling through a wormhole to alien worlds? I think you have us beat by a long shot, Daniel."

Tilting his head, Daniel acknowledged the point. Still, with everything new he discovered, his level of fascination grew.

Katie led Megan into the infirmary and guided her firmly into a chair. "Stay," she said, going off in search of Dr. Frasier.

"Arf, arf," Megan retorted, crossing her arms and slumping back in her chair. Blair rolled his eyes at their behavior and crouched down in front of Megan, reaching out to place a hand on her forehead.

"You do have a bit of a fever, Meg. You can't blame her for being mad. You're supposed to tell us when you intend to try something like this." Megan just frowned, dropping her head to the back of her chair and closing her eyes.

When Katie led Dr. Frasier into the room, Blair and Katie took turns explaining what was going on and Frasier set about taking Megan's vitals. She frowned as she looked at the results. "You have a fever of one hundred and one point five," she said, looking back at Megan. "And your blood pressure is higher than I like. I can't give you anything right now to help with either, since I'm trying to avoid adding any more chemicals to your system than are already there."

"I wouldn't let you give me anything, anyway," Megan replied. "That would decrease the effect of what I'm trying to do."

"But your body is not up to taking on the extra stress you're applying," Dr. Frasier told her, trying to impress upon Megan the seriousness of what she was doing.

"It's a short term thing only," Megan assured her. "Even a few hours of increased metabolism help to set me back to rights, more quickly than I would be otherwise. I'll reset things back to normal before I go to bed tonight. Will it make you feel better if I stop by before I go to bed and when I get up in the morning so you can take whatever readings you like? Then you can see that I haven't done myself any harm with this."

Frasier shook her head. "I still don't like it." She glanced at Katie and Blair before looking back to Megan. "It doesn't look like they're too thrilled with it, either." She sighed. "But since there doesn't seem to be anything we can do about it, I'll just have to make sure you're doing what's necessary to keep your body going during this. I want you to drink as much water as you can handle, and stop by the mess hall to grab some candy bars to have with you at all times. If you're hungry, by all means eat. If you're tired, stop what you're doing and rest. Your body is under a great deal of strain right now and you need to do what you can to lessen it." She turned her gaze toward Katie and Blair. "I assume I'm not telling you anything you don't know already, but I want you to watch her very carefully. Like some of my other patients, she seems inclined to push herself to recovery more quickly than is good for her."

"She is very stubborn," Katie agreed. Grabbing the water bottle sitting at Megan's side, she thrust it toward the Sentinel. "Drink. If you get dehydrated, I'm dragging you back here and putting you on a saline IV." Megan glared at her, but did as ordered, then looked back at Katie with an expression that seemed to say, 'Happy now?'

Katie sighed and nodded. She looked back to the doctor. "We have to observe some interrogations shortly. Could Megan rest here for a little while?"

Janet nodded, "We have some open beds. Come on." She led Katie and Megan off to a quiet corner of the infirmary.

Blair and Daniel watched them go. "Never a dull moment," Blair commented, turning to leave. "I'm going to run to the mess hall for snacks and water, you coming?"

Daniel shrugged and turned to accompany Blair. Technically he wasn't supposed to let any of the visitors wander around unsupervised. They made their way to the mess, picked up a variety of chips and candy, with Blair tossing in several pieces of fresh fruit, and a number of water bottles. By the time they got back to the infirmary, it was time to grab Katie and Megan and make their way back to the observation room for the start of the next round of interrogations.


	8. Chapter 8

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

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Chapter Eight

Settling into their seats, Blair placed a new water bottle and a variety of snacks in front of Megan. She grabbed an apple and started munching, turning her attention to the video monitor as Jack entered the room with the captured guard and started the interrogation. Megan grabbed a pad of paper and a pen in one hand, switching her apple to the other as she started scribbling her observations.

In the middle of the third interview, Megan started flipping through the files they had compiled on each of their prisoners. "Can you ask Jack to start pressing him on what his little sister might think of what he'd been part of? His sister is going to be the key to get him to break," she said intently, pushing the file toward Daniel. He looked down to see a photo of the man currently being interrogated with his arm around a young woman. Glancing between the woman and Megan, Daniel could see a passing resemblance. The young woman was a couple of years younger than Megan, and had short brownish, blonde hair. The file indicated that their prisoner, one Joshua Peterson, had been partly responsible for raising his younger sister when their mother died and his father had to travel for his work.

"This might work," Daniel mused. He pressed a key to talk to the earpiece that Jack was wearing. "Jack, we think we have something. He has a younger sister that he helped raise. There is a resemblance to Megan. Ask him how he would feel if that had been Amber that they had captive. Megan thinks Amber is the key to getting information from him, and I agree."

They watched as Jack flipped through a report in front of him and came to the picture that was a duplicate of the one they had found. Jack took the picture out and placed it on the table. "Pretty girl," he commented. "Does she know what her big brother was doing? What do you think she would think of you helping to kidnap and torture another innocent woman?"

"I did what I did for her," Joshua replied. "To keep her and the rest of our world safe. I did what you and the people here at the SGC wouldn't do."

"No, you're right," Jack replied. "I would never kidnap and torture an innocent young woman." He brought out a picture of Megan and placed it beside the picture of Joshua and Amber. "This woman never did anything to you, or posed any kind of threat to the world at large. She had family who were worrying about her, a younger brother, parents, a husband, a new baby. Did you know that? She just had a child a few months ago. You took a new mother from her baby. How does that make you feel?"

Megan's hands were clenched into fists. "I don't like them knowing that I have a son," she muttered, her eyes intent on Jack.

"I'm sure they already knew it," Daniel said, watching Megan warily. He wasn't quite sure what she would do, but he was suddenly very glad that General Hammond had forbidden her to be in the interview room. "He's just doing what he needs to get the information. You put him on this line of interrogation."

"I know," she said with a sigh. "I just don't like him using Chris as a tool in this."

"They're not going to be getting out of here," Daniel reassured her. "These people are not going to be able to go after your son. Don't worry." He didn't think getting wound up was a good thing for her if her blood pressure was already high.

Megan took a deep breath and settled down, forcing her body to relax. "I'm fine," she said, turning her attention back to the screen. "He's close," she said, observing the agitated state of the man Jack was questioning. "Colonel O'Neill is close to getting the information."

They watched in silence for awhile longer as Jack worked to get Joshua to decide he had been on the wrong side, after all. When they saw Joshua slump back in his chair and rub his hands over his eyes, Megan turned to Blair and Katie. "He did it."

Sure enough, when Joshua dropped his hands, he met Jack's eyes. "What do you want to know?"

As Jack began asking him for details such as gate address, what facilities might be present, any information on the other guards, and any other detail he could think of, Megan turned to Daniel.

"So, does this mean we can start planning the rescue?" she asked with a hopeful look.

"Soon," Daniel said. "We'll need to confirm the information as best we can, figure out if we have any information on the planet he just gave us, and once we have everything we need, then we can start making plans."

Megan sighed and lowered her head down to rest on her folded arms. "Megan?" Katie asked in concern, reaching forward to rest her hand on Megan's shoulder. Daniel had seen the same gesture many times between them and realized that Katie must be using the touch to do more than offer comfort.

"Headache," Megan muttered without raising her head. "And don't tell me it's my own fault."

Daniel watched as Katie shook her head. "I wouldn't say that. Now take a deep breath and let's see if we can adjust your pain dial. We can't give you any medication, so we need to do what we can on our own." She stood behind Megan's chair, hands on both her shoulders, speaking softly to guide her through the exercise that would help reduce the amount of pain she was feeling. It was only a matter of moments before Megan raised her head and nodded.

"Thanks, Katie," she said, turning her attention back to the video screen.

"What did you just do?" Daniel asked them in confusion.

"Sentinels have the ability to control their senses and their bodies to a degree greater than most, as you've seen," Blair explained. "One of the tricks we've discovered along the way is that we can use visualization techniques to control the amount of pain they feel. Basically what happens is that Jim or Megan can reduce or suppress the pain signals sent out by the nervous system. Of course that's a very dangerous thing to do, as it takes away a person's ability to know when they've been hurt or when they're pushing their body beyond its limits. Katie and I don't generally recommend it except in emergencies, but it's certainly come in handy in dangerous situations." He tilted his head to the side to look at Megan. "And in situations where we don't have any other recourse to reduce pain." Blair shrugged. "And that's probably more than you wanted to know." He went back to watching the video screen.

Daniel followed his lead and turned back to watching the rest of the interrogation. From what he could tell, Jack was getting some very good information from Joshua. Once Jack was satisfied that he had everything he needed, he gestured for the guard to take their prisoner back to his holding cell.

After four more hours, Jack finished with the interrogations they had scheduled. Once the guards had escorted the prisoner back to his cell, Jack left the interrogation room and a moment later, pushed open the door and leaned against the wall across from Daniel. "Well, do you believe the information was accurate?"

Daniel knew that Jack had already made up his mind whether he trusted the information he had gotten, but wanted to get a feel for what Daniel thought as well. Before Daniel could respond, though, Megan answered him, placing her pen back on her tablet of paper. "He wasn't lying. I can't tell you if he had accurate information to start with, but he was telling you the truth as he knows it."

Jack turned his attention to her. "And you're sure of this?" He gave her a skeptical look and crossed his arms over his chest.

"It's in his body language," she said easily, leaning back in her chair. "I am trained in the art of observation…" Her smile was just this side of a smirk.

Narrowing his eyes at her easy tone, Jack turned to look at the anthropologist. "Daniel?" The question was clear in the way the colonel said his name, and Daniel chose to answer to avoid antagonizing him. "I agree, Jack. There was nothing in his manner to indicate that he was lying."

"OK, then," Jack said, dropping a notebook on the table in front of Daniel. "It looks like you have some work ahead of you. Recognize it?"

Daniel studied the gate address on the top page. "Not off-hand. I'll have to check the database."

Blair leaned across the table and studied the markings of the address. "Is that a language? I don't recognize it."

"No, it's not a language," Daniel explained. "These are symbols that mark specific addresses in the gate network. So this represents a planet, but not one I've been to. I'll need to do a little research, it seems."

"Need any help?" Blair offered. "I'm not bad when it comes to research."

Looking up from the notebook, Daniel was about to take Blair up on the offer, knowing how tireless and determined he could be when digging into a subject that had caught his interest. Seeing the small shake of Jack's head, though, he changed his mind. "I'm well aware of that, Blair, but I don't think the military would be happy if I gave you access to their databases." He looked over to the women. "It's getting late. Why don't the three of you head to dinner. I'm assuming we'll be meeting later to go over what we know and start making plans." A glance at Jack prompted the colonel to answer.

"Yeah, we'll be meeting in a couple of hours," Jack said. He nodded toward the paper Daniel held. "So you'd probably better get moving, Daniel."

"Yeah," Daniel said, standing. The others followed suit. Jack stepped out into the hallway and gestured for Lieutenant Caroll, their official guide, to enter the room.

"Our visitors would like to go to the mess," Jack said, gesturing to the three.

Blair gave Katie a meaningful look, then looked at Megan. Daniel was sure they were having a silent conversation, but had no idea what it was about. After a moment, Megan nodded, her shoulders slumped. Whatever had been said, he didn't think she was very happy about it. "Let's go," Blair said, placing his hand in the small of Megan's back as they left the room.

Jack just gave Daniel a quizzical look, staring after them, then shrugged and headed out of the room. "Tick, tock, Daniel."

Gathering up the papers, Daniel headed back to his office to get on his computer and see what he could find. He quickly became involved in his research, trying to figure out what they knew about the planet where Detective Ellison was being held.

When he approached the meeting room with two minutes to spare, he greeted Lieutenant Caroll at the door. As he entered the room, he was surprised to see that while all of SG-1 and General Hammond were there, only one of the Cascade crew was present. Daniel slid into the seat next to Blair. "So where are your wife and Katie?"

"At the infirmary," Blair answered. Before Daniel could ask why they were there, Blair explained. "Dr. Frasier insisted that Megan stop by tonight so she could check her vitals before she went to bed. Once they're done, they'll be turning in for the night."

"They didn't insist on joining us?" Jack asked, unabashedly listening in. His tone of voice made clear his opinion of Megan and Katie's stubbornness.

"No," Blair answered, sounding amused. "Not this time." Daniel had a feeling he now knew what argument Megan had lost in that earlier silent conversation. Before Jack could ask anything else, Blair looked at the others around the table. "So, what did everyone find?"

All of SG-1 looked at General Hammond, who waved toward them to indicate they should go ahead and start the briefing. It was Sam who spoke first. "We found the planet indicated in our records sir. SG-7 visited it over a year ago. It's catalogued as P7X-428. The gate is in a forested area, and the planet is uninhabited, at least by sentient beings. There is abundant plant and animal life. We have samples of some of the plants in our labs. There are no buildings or any infrastructure that we've seen."

Teal'c spoke then. "The world is ignored by the Goa'uld. Besides the forests, there are no natural resources to exploit so they have left it alone."

"Sounds like a perfect place to set up shop," Jack said, his focus on the papers in front of him. "According to our prisoners, there's a temporary building set up in a clearing two miles from the gate. It's not an easy trail through the woods and they've got a pretty well defended perimeter. It's large enough to land a cargo ship, and has a barracks that will hold about 20 people. It's meant to be a temporary rendezvous point. They're waiting to get their next set of orders. We don't know if they'll have backup forces waiting there, or when they'll be leaving. We're not going to have a lot of time to do this, and we don't really know if we can trust the information we have. This could all be a setup."

"That's positive thinking," Daniel muttered under his breath.

"It's realistic," Jack retorted. "As much as you and Mrs. Sandburg believe the prisoners, I'm not going to trust them so quickly."

"How did you find out about the facility where Megan was being held?" Blair asked in curiosity.

Jack looked uncomfortable for a moment. "An informant, of sorts, gave us the layout and all the necessary details."

"Can you just ask this informant again?" Blair asked.

"I wouldn't trust anything he told me, either," Jack retorted. Seeing the confused look on Blair's face, Jack explained further. "We went in expecting a trap, but were pleasantly surprised to find everything just as it had been described. Does one piece of valid intel make him trustworthy? I think not. This particular… source, is a traitor to our country, and should not be trusted. Even before we found out he was a traitor, I didn't like him. He wanted to turn Teal'c into a lab rat!"

"Like Dr. Barras did to Megan?" Blair asked mildly. "Like they plan to do to Jim?" He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the table and staring at Jack. "I can understand not trusting the info, but if there's even a faint chance that they're telling the truth, I'm going to take it. If you don't want to send your people in, fine. Dial the gate and let me go through. I am going to get him back, with or without you." Blair's voice was steady, and his gaze was fixed on Jack. He meant what he said.

Jack sat back in his chair and gazed at Blair with narrowed eyes. "That kind of bravado will do nothing but get you killed. I never said we weren't going to go, but we have to plan for all contingencies. When we rescued your wife, we were conducting a raid, not a rescue. We didn't know she was there. Since we know your partner is being held, we have to plan differently. We can't take the chance that they'll use him as a hostage or try to kill him if they see us coming."

Blair took a deep breath, reigning in his emotions. He tilted his head toward Jack. "OK, then. What's the plan?"

"First, we send in a UAV to do recon of the area, make sure things are like we've been told. Problem is, once they see it flying around, they'll know we're there and be on their guard, maybe even launch the cargo ship."

"I don't like that option," Blair put in. "Once that ship is launched, we may not be able to find them again, right?"

"We could send in a MALP just to be sure the gate is free for us to come through and do our own recon," Daniel suggested. "I agree with Blair. The UAV is too risky."

Jack considered it for a moment before nodding. "OK, we send in a MALP to get a general lay of the land. If it shows an all clear, we'll send in a few scouts to check things out. I'm not sending in a full rescue team, or you," he added, glancing at Blair, "without knowing whether we can trust the intel. We were told that they've got a pretty lethal perimeter set as well. We'll need to dismantle the perimeter, allow our teams to pass through safely. Once the scouts report back, we can send in the rest of the team."

Blair rested an arm on the table. "This is where we usually come in. Jim is about the best scout or tracker you'll ever meet. Since he trained Megan, she's not that far behind. A Sentinel's skills are optimized for surveillance and scouting."

"Well, considering that your partner is the one we're rescuing and your wife was comatose yesterday, I don't think we can count of having a Sentinel scout on this mission," Jack retorted. "I was thinking more along the lines of Teal'c, myself and Major Tyler."

Hammond nodded approval at his choices, even as Blair protested. "It wasn't really a coma. It was a sensory overload. They can recover from those pretty quickly."

"She's still not going along as a scout," the colonel retorted. "We only rescued her yesterday. There's no way she'll be in fighting shape by tomorrow. Trust me, I know Dr. Frasier. She's not about to let your wife go on a mission until she's fully healed."

An odd expression crossed Blair's face as he shrugged and gave in to Jack. "I'm just saying that a Sentinel would be ideal here, that's all." Daniel narrowed his eyes and stared at Blair. There was something he wasn't saying, something to do with Megan.

O'Neill glared at Blair for a moment before continuing. "I want the scouts to go in just after dark. It will be harder to catch any tripwires or traps set up on the perimeter, but it will also be harder for any of them to see us. If the scouts give the ok, we'll send everyone else in while the majority of them are asleep in the barracks. I am assuming there were reinforcements at the base, and we're facing more than just the four who escaped in the cargo ship. If there are only four, all the better, but I'm not going to count on that."

"So I assume we'll be working with night-vision goggles?" Blair asked, looking around at the others. When Jack nodded, Blair glanced at his watch. "So we need to be ready to head out about dusk tomorrow?"

Sam joined the conversation. "Not exactly. P7X-428 is not on the same diurnal cycle as Earth. The planet has a twenty-eight hour day-night cycle. Nightfall on the planet will occur at noon here."

"Oh, right," Blair replied, looking a little embarrassed. "Different worlds. That's going to take some getting used to."

Jack spread out a sheet of paper on which was a sketch of the terrain based on Mr. Peterson's information. For the next two hours, they worked out details of which teams would be assigned, what ordinance would be needed, and who would be deployed to which position assuming the intel was correct. They also worked out a backup plan so that they still had a chance of rescuing Detective Ellison if the information they were given turned out to be false.

Once the planning session ended, everyone rose from their chairs to leave. Before Daniel and Blair could leave the room, Colonel O'Neill approached them. "Sandburg."

"Yes, Colonel?" Blair asked, his curiosity evident.

"Does your father know you're here?" Jack looked down at the tabletop, then back up at Blair, obviously uncomfortable asking the question.

The question was so uncharacteristic that Sam and Teal'c stopped in their tracks and turned to look at them. Blair ignored them and shook his head, answering Jack's question. "No. He's on assignment, incommunicado. You know Mac, he can be out of touch for weeks at a time. He left shortly before Megan was nabbed. As far as I know, he isn't aware of any of this."

"You know his father?" Sam asked in disbelief, looking back and forth between them.

"Yeah," Jack said, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck. "His father is MacGyver, the cousin I told you about earlier."

"So you're related?" she asked, trying to make sense of this.

"Apparently," Jack said, leaning back against the table. He looked back at Blair. "That explains it, though. Knowing Mac, if he had any idea that his family was in trouble, he would have been here with you."

"Yeah, he would," Blair replied. "He's not going to be happy to find out what he missed when he gets back." A short laugh escaped him. "But I bet he won't be overly surprised."

"You guys get kidnapped and taken to other planets frequently, do you?" Jack asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well, not the other planets bit," Blair shrugged. "But Jim has decided we're all trouble magnets. Sometimes I can't say I disagree with him, either."

"Oh, fantastic," Jack said sarcastically. "We've got one of those already, and we're bringing you along as well? Can someone just shoot me now and get it over with?"

"Just one, Jack?" Daniel asked, glaring at the leader of his team. He knew very well that Jack was referring to him. "Seems to me we've all found our share of trouble over the years."

"How many times have you died, Daniel?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow.

Daniel pursed his lips as Blair gave him a sidelong glance. "Twice," he replied. "But when we met the Nox, the three of you died as well, so I'm only one ahead of you."

"And of me," Blair answered with a crooked grin.

The others did a double-take. "You died?" Daniel asked in shock. "We were revived by aliens. I'm assuming the same didn't happen for you?" He didn't actually ask, but the question was very clear.

"I drowned, was pronounced dead by the paramedics and brought back by Jim," Blair replied with a shrug. "So, does that mean I get to join your club?"

Daniel couldn't help it, and started laughing, joined soon by Blair. Sam just looked at them like they were crazy, Teal'c stared at them impassively, and Jack shook his head. "OK, kids, on that note, I'm outta here."

"Think we scared him off?" Blair asked as he gathered his notes and headed out the door of the conference room.

"Probably," Daniel replied, shaking his own head as he escorted Blair back to his quarters. "When this is all over, you and I really need to catch up. I have a feeling some of your stories could easily match mine."

"Except for the whole alien thing, maybe," Blair agreed. "But I would love a chance to catch up with you. It's been awhile since our last talk." He took a deep breath. "But we have to get through tomorrow first."

"Yeah," Daniel said. He stopped walking, forcing Blair to stop as well or leave him behind. "About tomorrow…" Daniel crossed his arms and fell silent, not sure how to say what he wanted. For that matter, he wasn't entirely sure what he wanted to say at all, an odd occurrence for him. He knew Blair had received weapons training as a detective. The hints he'd dropped made it clear that he had been in quite a few dangerous circumstances since Daniel had last seen him. But even with all of that, he didn't like the idea of dragging the energetic young man into a combat situation.

Blair, apparently picking up on the direction of his thoughts, grew serious. "Daniel, I'm not the same man you knew years ago. I understand what I'll be getting involved in with this mission. You don't need to worry about me."

"Your wife mentioned that you tend to see your gun as a last option," Daniel pointed out. "You always had an aversion to violence, Blair. I don't think you could have changed that much."

Blair gave him a grin. "You do realize you just described yourself?" He quirked an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side.

Daniel returned a small smile. "Fine, you have a point. But as you said, I'm not the same man you knew. I've gone through a lot, been on a front-line team for four years. I can't even believe how normal it feels to have a gun in my hands. But I don't think you've reached that same level of… comfort, for lack of a better word. There's a good possibility that people will be shooting at you, and you'll have to return fire. Will you be able to do that?"

Blair gave him a serious look. "Daniel, I may not be a soldier, or work on a front-line team, but I do carry a gun on a daily basis. I don't like that fact, and probably will never be completely comfortable with it. But despite that, I do know how to handle myself in a gun battle. Jim and I work some of the worst cases that come into the Major Crimes department. Serial killers, terrorists, drug dealers, we've worked them all, and confronted them all. While some detectives are lucky enough to never have to draw a weapon, I'm not one of them. I know what I need to do in order to protect others. And remember that these people are holding my partner. They kidnapped and tortured my wife. They do not have my sympathy."

Daniel stared at Blair for a long moment, judging his sincerity and his intent. He finally nodded and stepped back, "Good enough for me." He started leading the way back down the hallway. "What a different life than we thought we'd have, huh?"

Blair chuckled. "You said it. So, do I get to see 'soldier Daniel' tomorrow?"

"Well, I can follow orders when I need to, and I've been in battle more times than I care to admit, but don't let Jack hear you say that. I'll never fit the 'soldier' mode any more than you would. I question too much." He shrugged, looking at the door numbers. "We're here. Get some sleep, Blair. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night, Daniel," Blair replied, opening the door and quietly slipping inside. Apparently not quietly enough, though, because Daniel heard a sleepy voice murmur something too soft for him to make out. The door closed before he could hear Blair's response. Giving a nod to the guard at the end of the hallway, Daniel turned and headed through the halls to his own rooms. It seemed as if tomorrow was going to be a busy day, and he needed sleep as well.


	9. Chapter 9

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter Nine

Daniel and Sam were having breakfast in the mess when the Sandburgs and Mrs. Ellison entered the room. After filling their trays, the three of them sat down at the table.

"Morning," Blair said to them, offering a nod in greeting. He and Sam returned the gesture.

Megan and Katie greeted Daniel, then Megan reached over and held out a hand to Sam. "Hi, I assume you're Major Carter, but I don't think we've been introduced. I'm Megan, and this is Katie."

"Sam," she replied, shaking Megan's hand and reaching over to do the same to Katie.

Daniel glanced between them in surprise. "You haven't met?" Thinking back over the past couple of days, he realized that Megan had never actually been in the same room as Sam while conscious. "I guess you haven't. Sorry."

"No problem," Katie answered, while Megan turned her attention to the food on her tray.

Daniel looked at the dark clothing all three were wearing and the fact that both women had their hair pulled back in ponytails. "Can I ask what's going on? You look like you're planning something."

After a glance at the others, it was Katie that answered. "We would like to join the rescue mission. After breakfast, we're going to go talk to the General."

"What?" Daniel asked, not sure he had heard correctly. Sam was also giving them an incredulous look. "We, as in you and Megan both?" At Katie's nod, Daniel shook his head. "You and Blair have been so protective of her since you've been here. I can't believe that you'd condone her going out in the field so soon."

"But I'm fine, and they know it," Megan said calmly, speaking up for herself. "Trust me, if they thought I wasn't up to it, no amount of arguing on my part would convince them otherwise. But I'm perfectly capable of joining the mission today."

"How?" Sam asked, looking Megan up and down. "You were in really bad shape when you first got here, less than two days ago."

Megan gave a small shrug. "I heal quickly." As the Sentinel reached for her glass, Sam caught Megan's hand and pulled her arm over to inspect the exposed wrist. Daniel stared in disbelief as well as he caught sight of Megan's wrists. The last time he had seen them, they were red and raw from the restraints that had been used on her. Now, there was only pale pink scar tissue.

"They couldn't have healed so much in two days," Daniel protested. Megan just gave him an inscrutable look in response.

"She's healed enough to be included," Katie pointed to Megan's wrists as evidence. "So yes, we want to be part of this rescue."

Sam just shook her head in amazement as she released Megan's arm. "The colonel won't like having to change mission parameters only hours before we leave. And that's only if you can convince first the General and then the Colonel that you need to be there."

"We can be pretty persuasive," Megan commented.

"Good luck," Sam said, her tone a little skeptical. Megan and Katie just gave her identical grins and turned back to their meals. Megan turned the direction of the conversation to science, and she and Sam had a lively conversation on the current state of astronomy, with Sam sharing stories of some of their adventures that proved or disproved current astronomical theories. Megan was apparently working toward her doctorate in astrophysics, and Daniel couldn't help but wonder where she found the time to study. While she was nowhere near Sam's level, it was clear that she had a firm grasp of the concepts, enough to have a decent conversation with Sam, anyway.

After breakfast, the three from Cascade left the mess hall, asking their escort to take them to speak to the General. Once they were gone, Sam turned to Daniel. "So, what do you think the chances are of them joining us?"

Daniel shrugged. "I do think they have several skills that would be helpful on this mission. Can you imagine having the abilities of a Sentinel on a team? They would make fantastic scouts, and we'd be able to know what's happening to other members of a team from further away without having to use the radios."

"I don't disagree in general, Daniel, but the mission is in a few hours. We don't know the true range of her abilities, and it's pretty short notice now to change the mission parameters." Sam pointed out the unlikelihood of them being allowed to join a mission that had already been planned.

"True enough," Daniel agreed. "It's not too likely Hammond or Jack will go for it."

Sam looked at her watch. "I'd better get going. I had some things I wanted to get done before we head out."

"Yeah, me too." After turning in their trays, Daniel and Sam split up to head to their individual labs. Daniel lost himself in his work, as usual, and was surprised when his phone rang. He answered it, receiving a summons to the briefing room near Hammond's office. Since it wasn't time for the last pre-mission brief, he had a good idea what it was about. Hanging up the phone and putting his papers away, he muttered under his breath. "Persuasive, indeed."

Daniel found that he was the last to enter the room, with General Hammond, SG-1, Dr. Frasier and the Cascade visitors already seated. Daniel took a seat as the General nodded to him. "OK, we don't have a lot of time, so let's get this started. Our visitors came to my office this morning and requested that Mrs. Sandburg and Mrs. Ellison be included in the rescue mission." As Jack opened his mouth to protest, Hammond held up a hand. "While I have not made a final decision, I have agreed to hear them out. Obviously, since Mrs. Sandburg's health was a concern, I sent her to Dr. Frasier for an exam. If she doesn't give the all clear, the matter is closed." He turned toward Janet. "Doctor?"

Shaking her head in disbelief, Janet gave her report. "According to all the tests I ran, Mrs. Sandburg is in perfect health. There is still a low level of the drugs she was given in her system, but such low dosages won't affect her ability to perform on a mission. Her injuries have healed at a rate that seems impossible. If I didn't know better, I'd say two weeks have passed since her first exam rather than two days. I have to give her a clean bill of health."

"Very well," Hammond said. He turned to Blair, Megan and Katie. "Now perhaps you can explain to us how you would be an asset to this mission. What will including you enable us to do that we couldn't otherwise accomplish?"

"How about being able to communicate with Jim?" Blair said, meeting the General's eyes. "With Megan and Katie there, we can get inside information, find out where Jim is being kept, what condition he's in, any info he has on his captors or surroundings. Is that valuable enough?"

Jack was looking at them skeptically. "So what, you have internal transmitters or something? How are you supposed to be able to talk to him?"

Sam leaned forward abruptly. "You have super hearing, right?" She directed the question to Megan. "We get you close enough, and you can each hear the other speaking, right?"

"Well how close would we have to get?" Jack asked, looking back and forth between Megan and Sam. "I don't intend to take two civilians into a potential battlefield, no matter what your abilities are."

Daniel watched Megan exchange glances with Blair and Katie. He knew they were referring to their 'telepathic' abilities, but wondered if they would take the way out that Sam had unwittingly offered. "We do have a greater range for that sort of thing than anyone else would," Megan offered. "But we'd still have to get closer than Colonel O'Neill would like for us to actually hear each other. No, I was referring to another little ability of mine." She took a deep breath and another quick glance at the people on either side of her for support. "Sentinels and their Guides have a connection that is difficult to explain. We can sense what the other is feeling, if they're hurt, in pain, excited, whatever. Guides are highly intuitive and empathetic, and since I have a mix of Sentinel and Guide genetics, those qualities are heightened in me as well. I have the ability to speak mind to mind with Katie, Blair and Jim. With me present, the others can also speak to each other, but kind of through me. So as soon as we're on the planet, I'll be able to talk to Jim. You said the camp was two miles from the gate? That's well within our range."

When Megan stopped speaking, most of those at the table were staring at her, incredulous. "Let me get this straight," Jack said, crossing his arms over his chest. "You can read each other's minds? Do you honestly expect us to believe that?"

"We never called it mind-reading," Blair protested. "But we can hold conversations as easily without saying a word as we can by speaking. As long as we're in a certain range, anyway." He cocked an eyebrow. "And why in the world would we claim something that could so easily be disproven?"

Megan gave him a sidelong glance. "Dog-and-pony show?" At his roll of the eyes and shrug, she looked back to Jack. "There is a simple way to demonstrate this. Someone will take me to another location in the facility, and tell me something. I'll relay that to Blair and Katie as they stay here in the room. Since there is no way that we'll be able to predict who goes with me or what they choose to say, it should be a pretty convincing test."

"How do we know you don't have transmitters or microphones or something?" Jack asked, determined to disbelieve their claim.

"Would you like to search us?" Katie asked, tilting her head to the side and giving him an annoyed look.

"That won't be necessary," Sam said. "We can just set up an RF receiver in the room to test for any signals on the usual transmitter frequencies."

"There you go," Megan said. "Is that good enough? I don't think you want to spend any more time on this than we do."

For a long moment, Jack stared at the Sentinel and Guides. Daniel could almost see the thoughts going through his mind. If they were telling the truth, getting inside info could be invaluable. "Fine, let's do this," he said, standing up. "Mrs. Sandburg, you're with me. Carter, set up the RF thing you talked about."

"I have one in my lab," Sam said, standing up and heading out the door. "I'll be right back."

Jack waited until Megan joined him at the door, then led her out and down the hall.

Blair and Katie looked to where Dr. Frasier was writing notes in her reports. "I'm not that comfortable with there being a record of all of our abilities," Katie said with a slight shrug. "The more records there are, the more chance there is of something like this happening again. The fewer people who know about us, the better."

Dr. Frasier put her pen down and met her gaze steadily. "As long as you're all here, you're my responsibility. Your friend is my patient. No one else has seen these, and I do not plan for anyone else to see them. I protect doctor-patient confidentiality."

"As much as you can in a military organization," Katie pointed out. "You do have to report to those in charge, and if someone orders you to turn over the information?"

"You aren't in their chain of command," Janet pointed out. "No one has any right to the information on you. I cannot be ordered to turn over medical information on civilians. I swear to you that no one will see these records without your approval."

Katie sighed and sank back in her chair, clearly not especially happy with the situation, but not voicing any more objections.

"If you go on the mission, however, I am concerned about your Sentinel's reaction to Stargate travel. Going through to come here overloaded her senses and created the coma-like condition that you found her in. Will she be able to handle going through the gate?"

Blair sat back in his chair and let Katie answer. "Her senses were out of control before she stepped through the gate. The drugs in her system would not allow her to handle even common stimuli, much less something as exotic as wormhole travel. She's pretty much back to normal now, and with us at her side, can handle things much better. It will be a test, taking her through, but I'm pretty confident she can handle it."

Sam re-entered the room with the RF receiver and quickly set it up. "So, are we ready to do this?" she asked.

Blair looked away for a moment, then shook his head. "Megan said they've left the elevator on the entrance level, but they're still walking through hallways. Oh, wait, they've entered a meeting room." He grinned. "The Colonel thinks this whole thing is a waste of time, but he's saying something for Megan to relay. Nursery rhymes?" Blair asked. With an amused huff of air, he relayed the message as Jack was saying it to Megan.

'Mary, Steenburgen?, ok, so Mary had a little Asgard,

whose skin was wrinkled and grey.

And everywhere that Mary, Steenburgen again, went,

The alien was sure to go.'

Blair laughed as he finished relaying the altered nursery rhyme. "Does that make sense to anyone? Does that mean that there's an alien race that was the basis of Norse mythology?"

Daniel shook his head. "More like they assumed the roles from Norse mythology." While he would love to get involved in a discussion with Blair of how the aliens were intertwined with human mythology; that would have to wait.

"Did your device show any signals being received, Major Carter?" Teal'c asked.

Sam shook her head. "No, nothing. But that nursery rhyme sounds like something the colonel would say. We'll just have to see what he says when they return."

It was a few more minutes before Jack and Megan returned to the briefing room. "So, would you like us to tell you what you said?" Blair asked as the colonel and Megan took their seats again. At Jack's shrug, Blair repeated the nursery rhyme as he had said it earlier.

"I didn't say anything about Mary Steenburgen," Jack protested.

Megan laughed a little. "Maybe not out loud, but every time you said Mary, I got a flash of Mary Steenburgen in my head. Sorry, but I relayed that part to Blair and Katie." Jack just frowned and slumped lower in his chair. "So, are people convinced?" She looked around at the others around the table.

"I think I'm convinced," General Hammond said, looking between Megan and the Colonel. "I'm leaving it up to you, Colonel. It's your mission, but I do think they could help. Inside information could be quite invaluable."

Jack stared at Megan and Katie for a long moment. "I'm not taking two civilians into what could be battlefield conditions. You will not be in a position to take fire."

"Understood," Megan said, nodding, a twitch of her fingers stilling any possible protest from Katie.

"If you come along, you will remain at the gate, ready to leave at a moment's notice." Jack started laying out the ground rules before he acquiesced.

"Might I suggest you take better advantage of our abilities?" Megan asked. She held up a hand to halt any comment on Jack's part. "Hear me out. According to what we were told, there should be a rise in the southwest corner of the clearing, overlooking the encampment. Put Katie and me there, with a couple of rifles, night vision goggles and a radio. Surveillance is our specialty, Colonel O'Neill. Let us help where we can."

"And what are the rifles for?" Jack asked.

Megan just raised an eyebrow. "I am an expert marksman, Colonel. I would hate to be stuck watching with no way to help if someone is in danger. Don't forget, you're taking my husband to rescue Katie's husband. We couldn't stand by and do nothing if they were in trouble."

"I don't know that giving you a gun when we're going after your former captors is a good idea," Jack commented. "You did attack that doctor, remember?"

With a sigh, Megan met his gaze. "I don't know whether this will make you more or less likely to put a gun in my hands, but I've never killed anyone in my life. I understand that I may not be able to avoid it one day, but my aim is good enough so that I can usually just shoot to incapacitate."

"OK, fine," Jack said, waving his hand, letting the topic go for the moment. "And why would you need night vision goggles? I thought you had super vision, or something."

"In the dark, my eyes work like those of a cat," Megan explained. "They gather more light, making things appear brighter to me, similar to the image enhancement goggles. So yes, I do see more at night than most people can. But the thermal imaging night vision goggles take in infrared wavelengths. This allows you to see things that I can't. I can still only see the visible wavelengths of light, like any other human. I'm not sure which wavelength would prove most advantageous during surveillance. But needless to say, we would be a great help to you."

Jack looked back and forth between each member of his team, Dr. Frasier and General Hammond, hoping someone would speak up with an objection, a reason not to allow two civilians to join them. When no one said a word, Jack sat forward in his chair. "I can't believe I'm doing this, but you can come along. You will wait here with the rest of the team until the scouting is done. Once we're sure it's safe, we'll bring you through and you can contact Detective Ellison. When we have all the info we need, you will either remain at the gate, or take up surveillance, depending on what the scouting shows. I'm not leaving the two of you on your own recognizance, so Daniel will be with you the whole time."

Daniel glanced up at that, feeling he was being relegated to the status of civilian along with the two women, but shrugged. Out of all the members of SG-1, he was the least skilled at gun battles. He had gotten used to them, but still didn't appreciate that part of the job. If he needed to sit this one out, it was fine with him. "No problem, Jack," he said.

Jack kept his attention focused on the two women. "You will obey the chain of command and follow the orders you're given. Is that understood?"

"Of course," Megan answered. "Your terms are very reasonable."

"Understood," Katie added, nodding her acceptance as well.

"Good," Jack said, sitting back in his chair, not seeming to know whether he had won or lost.

Colonel O'Neill called in the other two SG teams assigned to the mission so they could all go over the details together, with the changes made to the plan to accommodate the new additions. Dr. Frasier was dismissed, as she was not directly involved with the mission. As they went over the details, they all avoided any mention of Sentinels, Guides, or their abilities. Once the meeting was over, Jack asked Sam to take their visitors first to the armory and then to the shooting range.

Daniel followed Sam and the others out as he headed to his office and listened to the conversation between them about the importance of being familiar with a weapon before using it on a mission. He veered off into another hallway as they headed toward the armory and he headed to his office. He had made some progress on deciphering the writing on the walls in the temple where Megan had been held, but he wanted to get a bit further before the mission later that day.


	10. Chapter 10

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Beta: Terri... sorry for not thinking to thank you before!

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter Ten

As noon approached, Daniel put aside his work and headed to the locker room to gear up for the mission. Though only the scouts would be going through the gate if the MALP showed all clear, the entire team had to be ready. Once he was finished, he grabbed his laptop and headed up to the control room, finding General Hammond, Sam, and the Cascade group ready and waiting. Sam nodded as he entered the room.

"We're ready, sir," Sam said, looking at the General.

"Dial it up," Hammond ordered, giving Sam the go-ahead.

Daniel moved to stand next to Blair, Megan and Katie, who were staring at the gate in awe. "Impressive, isn't it?" he asked quietly.

"I've never seen anything like it," Blair responded. "Man, what you must have thought the first time you laid eyes on that thing. It's everything you searched for your whole career. Proof positive that your theories were right, and so much more." They watched the gate as each chevron lit up, and as the last chevron locked into place, Daniel watched their guests. Blair and Katie jumped when the first rush of the wormhole surged into the room, then collapsed back and stabilized. "Oh, wow," Blair breathed out, reaching forward as if to try to touch it through the glass separating the control room from the gate room. Megan stared through the glass as if she could burn a hole through it with her gaze, and Katie reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. Daniel was about to ask what they were doing when he was distracted by the General's voice.

"Send the MALP," Hammond said into the microphone. One of the marines used the remote he held to maneuver the MALP through the open wormhole. Daniel moved over and gestured for Blair, Megan and Katie to watch the monitor. The infrared camera on the MALP panned around the gate platform, showing a densely wooded area with no humanoid forms present. It also did not pick up signs of other machinery nearby. After a three hundred-sixty degree scan showed no trace of enemies, General Hammond nodded to Colonel O'Neill in the gate room. "You have a go, Colonel."

Colonel O'Neill gave a jaunty salute, then strode quickly up the ramp and through the gate, gun at the ready, followed closely by Teal'c and Major Tyler. Daniel and the others watched tensely on the monitor as they crossed in front of the MALP's camera and spread out. The rest of the teams stood ready to charge through the gate if it turned out to be a trap and the scouts needed help to hold their position long enough to dial back home. After a quick perimeter search, Jack circled back around to the camera. "It's clear here. We'll report back in three hours. Requesting radio silence until then."

"Of course, Colonel," Hammond said. "Godspeed."

As the wormhole blinked out, Hammond spoke into the microphone again. "SG teams stand down, but be ready to head out at a moment's notice."

Daniel gestured up the stairs with his laptop. "Care to join me in the briefing room to wait? You don't want to get too far away now in case we need to head out quickly."

"That's fine," Blair answered for all of them. They followed him upstairs to the briefing room where Daniel opened his laptop and got back to work. Sam soon joined them, setting up her laptop across the table.

Blair, Katie and Megan all stood at the window that had been closed the other times they were in the conference room and watched the gate in silence. Katie reached out and lightly touched Megan's shoulder, reminding Daniel of the moment in the control room. "Hey, what were you doing in the control room earlier?" Daniel asked.

"What?" Blair asked, turning reluctantly away from the window to face Daniel, Megan and Katie following suit.

"When the wormhole was established, Megan looked like she was focusing pretty hard on the gate," Daniel pointed out. He looked at Katie. "And you reached out and touched Megan like you just did. What were you doing?" He looked back and forth between the women.

Megan sighed and shrugged. "We were trying to see if we could reach Jim through the wormhole. You said radio and other wavelengths on the spectrum will travel through the wormhole, so we thought it was worth a shot."

Sam looked up in interest at the turn the conversation was taking. "Do you know if your abilities operate on a specific wavelength? Have you ever done any tests to see if it shows up on any kind of brain scan or MRI?"

Megan shook her head and gave a short laugh. "An MRI? We've been trying to keep our abilities secret, not use expensive equipment for no obvious reason to lead people to us." She shrugged. "Though, we have used some of the labs at the Phoenix Foundation to run a few simple tests. We've never been able to isolate a wavelength that it seems to work on. So we really don't have any idea how it works." Turning back to Daniel, she answered the question he had been about to ask. "And no, we didn't get anything from Jim. I didn't get anything through the wormhole at all. It was like being on a phone line, there was no sense of anyone living. My abilities are limited by distance, as you know, and another star system is far outside those abilities. The wormhole connecting us doesn't seem to make a difference."

"Would you allow me to run some tests and see if we can pinpoint how your abilities work?" Sam asked.

Megan flinched, and her eyes widened in panic. "NO!" she said emphatically before lowering her voice to a near whisper. "No tests." She rubbed her arms briskly, her arms tight around her body.

Sam's eyes widened in horror as she realized what she had just asked Megan. "Sorry, no, I didn't mean that. Forget it. Forget I said anything about it."

Megan shook her head. "No, sorry, knee-jerk reaction. I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me. I just…" she didn't finish her sentence, turning back to the window to stare out at the gate. Blair gave Daniel and Sam an inscrutable glance, then turned, placing an arm around Megan's shoulders. He rubbed a hand up and down her arm in a soothing gesture, and she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder, the tension easing out of her body slowly.

Sam gave Daniel a helpless look, which he returned with a shrug before returning to his computer, giving the people at the window what privacy could be afforded. Daniel tried to ignore the tension in the room caused by the inadvertent comment, and was stunned when he heard Megan suddenly snicker and Blair laugh out loud. He turned to see Megan swat Katie lightly on the arm.

"Katie!" Megan protested, the chuckles escaping her as she shook her head. "I'm going to have that in my head for the rest of the day now. If I start humming when we're doing surveillance, it's all your fault."

"What's going on?" Daniel asked, leaning back in his chair, turning to face them with a bemused look on his face. As far as he could tell, Katie hadn't done anything, but then, with this particular group of people, that didn't mean anything.

"You know how you can get a song stuck in your head and can't get rid of it?" Megan asked him. When he nodded, she continued. "Well, Katie just had to share the song that was driving her crazy so it could do the same for us."

Sam cocked her head in curiosity. "What song is it?"

"'I'm too sexy', by Right Said Fred," Megan answered. When both Sam and Daniel stared at her blankly, Megan shook her head in amazement. "Neither of you know it? It came out when we were in high school. My mother thought it was hilarious and loved it." When they indicated they hadn't heard it, Megan sang a line from the lyrics. "On the catwalk, on the catwalk, yeah I do a little turn on the catwalk…" As she sang, she bounced a little to the music she could hear in her head. Daniel couldn't help but grin at how young she seemed at that moment.

She looked back and forth between him and Sam. "No recognition, huh?"

"No, but you certainly seem to enjoy the song," Daniel commented, provoking a faint blush across her face.

"Oh, come on," she protested. "Don't you ever revert to an earlier time in your life when you hear a song that brings it all back?"

Sam grinned at her. "Yeah, I have to admit that I do at times."

Megan smiled easily back at her, everything forgiven. Daniel glanced at Megan's guide. It was obvious that she knew just how to break the tension in her friends. It would have to be difficult for her, though, since it was her husband they were attempting to rescue. Daniel shook his head as he thought about what all of them were going through. It seemed they handled the stress of difficult situations with humor, or at least as much as they could. They reminded him of Jack in that way.

"Oh, wow, I'm wound far too tightly," Megan said with a wry grin. "Does anyone mind if I do a little tai chi in the corner to relax?"

"No, go ahead," Sam said, waving toward an open corner.

Megan tilted her head toward the corner. "Want to join me?" she asked Katie.

"Sure," Katie said, walking with Megan over to an open area near the door. They faced each other and without exchanging a word, started in on a kata of slow, flowing movements.

Daniel watched them for a moment, seeing how they mirrored each other's movements perfectly; most of the time, anyway. Megan kept adding odd moves here and there that Daniel thought resembled a dance move more than a martial arts move. He glanced over at Blair and raised an eyebrow in question. Blair just chuckled. "She still has that song stuck in her head. She's always tended to pull her music into her exercise routines." He shrugged and pulled up a chair next to Daniel. "So, what are you working on?"

Daniel brought up some stills of the alien writing he'd recorded on the walls of the temple in which they'd found Megan. Blair leaned in to get a closer look. "It looks like a derivative of a language used by the Ticuna tribe in Peru. Have you heard of the Yuri language? It's extinct, and there's not much known about it, but some of those symbols are similar to what I've seen hypothesized as the written form of the Ticuna-Yuri language."

Daniel glanced aside at Blair and back to the screen, getting drawn into a discussion of ancient and near-extinct languages. He barely noticed when Megan and Katie finished their exercise and settled into chairs across the table. Deep in conversation with his old friend, Daniel was surprised when the alarm on his computer beeped at him. "Oh." He checked his watch. "Fifteen minutes till Jack's check-in time. We should get ready to head out." Daniel quickly closed down his computer as Sam did the same.

They all followed Sam down to a prep room nearby to load up their gear and grab their weapons. Once everyone was ready, they joined the other two SG teams waiting in the gate room. A silence fell over the group as they waited, each person wondering what was happening to the scouts, whether they would be able to make contact as scheduled, and what would await them when it came their turn to proceed through the gate. Daniel glanced over to see how the newcomers were handling the wait. There was no sign of the earlier teasing now, nor of the tension he had seen in them. In fact, they seemed calm, collected, still and alert, much like the experienced military personnel surrounding them. Daniel nodded to himself. They'd do just fine.

When the gate activated on schedule, Daniel released a soft sigh of relief, prompting a glance from Megan. She nodded at him, then turned her attention to the control room, her eyes un-focusing as she concentrated. After a moment she turned back to Blair and Katie, speaking just loud enough for Daniel and Sam to hear as well. "Colonel O'Neill and the others are fine. They're ready for the rest of the team to come through." The gate shut down as she spoke, and immediately started spinning again as Walter started dialing out again to send the teams through.

As soon as she finished speaking, General Hammond's voice came over the speakers. "SG's one, five and seven, you have a go."

With a salute, Colonel Harris led SG-5 up the ramp and through the wormhole. They were quickly followed by SG-7, and Daniel and Sam ushered the civilians toward the gate. As they approached the gate, Katie held up a hand. "Give us a moment."

Katie turned to Megan. "I need you to dial everything down as low as you can go and still be functioning. You didn't react so well the last time you went through, and we want to avoid a repeat of that."

Megan didn't respond verbally, but gazed off into the distance, seemingly unaware of her surroundings. She finally nodded at Katie. "I'm as ready as I'm going to be."

Blair gently took Megan's arm in his, took a deep breath, and gazed up at the gate. The determination in his bearing and expression could not hide the excitement and wonder in his eyes at what he was about to do. "Here we go." Putting his shoulders back, Blair led Megan into the wormhole. Katie closed her eyes and stepped quickly through. Daniel glanced at Sam and shrugged. Daniel gestured for Sam to precede him through the gate, then followed her through.

When Daniel stepped out of the gate on the other end, he nearly tripped over Blair, Katie and Megan. The two guides were supporting Megan between them, moving her slumped form over to the side of the gate in an effort to get out of the way. "Whoa," he exclaimed, stopping short and sidestepping to avoid running into them. "What's wrong?" He crouched down beside them as they lowered Megan to the ground. She immediately curled into a ball, her hands moving to cover her ears, eyes clenched shut. At least it was enough to reassure him that she was conscious, which was better than her last trip through the gate.

"Apparently Sentinels and wormhole travel don't mix," Blair commented worriedly, his voice soft as he watched Katie murmur to Megan.

"Oh, just great!" Jack said, walking over to join them. "I knew this was a bad idea!" He looked down at Megan and back to the gate. "Will she be able to handle another trip through the gate? Because I'm sending you both home right now."

Katie glanced up at Jack and fixed him with a glare. "Will you please shut up and let me work here?" Though it was obvious that Katie was irate with Jack, she kept her voice quiet to avoid irritating Megan's senses any further. "She'll be fine if everyone will just back off and let us work through this." She muttered under her breath, and Daniel didn't think her last comment was meant to be heard. "And that includes you, Jim."

Jack's eyebrows climbed toward his hairline and he looked as if he was going to yell, but he held his tongue and just hovered over them, glowering down at Katie. She ignored him and focused on helping Megan recover from the sensory overload. After a couple of minutes, Megan relaxed and lowered her hands. Rolling over onto her back, she cracked her eyes open and looked up at the night sky. Finding that the light didn't bother her, she opened her eyes fully and sat up, looking up and meeting Jack's glare. The light from the two moons was weak, but it was enough to show Daniel that there were still lines of strain on Megan's face. She wasn't quite recovered from the shock.

"Sorry for this. I wasn't expecting it to bother me quite so much. But I'm fine now and we're ready to continue with the mission."

"Continue?" Jack asked in amazement. "Oh, hell no. You're heading back right now."

"Don't you want to talk to Jim?" Megan asked, her eyes wide in an innocent expression. "He's aware we're here. In fact, he was nearly yelling in my head from the moment I stepped through the gate. Quite annoying, actually, but he's apparently not too happy I came along."

"That makes two of us," Jack muttered, glancing back at the rest of the rescue team. Since they were unaware of Megan's unusual abilities, he directed them to secure a perimeter while he spoke to Megan. Crouching down next to Megan, he ran a hand over his head, sweeping his hat off and re-settling it back into place. "So, how do we do this?"

"We'll relay your questions to Jim and then repeat his responses so you can hear them," Blair said. "To start off with, Jim has reported that he's being held in a small room made of a material he's never seen before. He's heard some kind of engine noise on occasion, and had a faint sense of movement when he first woke up. Based on what we know, I would assume that he's being held in the cargo ship. When you were scouting, did you see the ship?"

Jack nodded. "The intel was accurate. There is a metal shed building in a clearing a couple of miles from here. The ship is parked about a hundred meters from the shed. We've disabled all of the traps and alarms we found between here and the clearing. We spotted two teams of two guards each on patrol of the area. Ask Jim how many men he's seen, what he's seen of their patterns, what weapons they might have on hand."

Megan relayed the questions to Jim and his responses to Jack. In this way, Jack was able to question Jim and find out all the information the captive had on his prison and captors. Once the questions were finished, Megan looked at Jack. "Jim wants to help. As you know, he's an ex-Army Ranger, and a police detective. Having him on the inside could be a great help to us. He just doesn't know how to get out of the cell. The technology is unfamiliar to him, and he won't likely have a chance to jump a guard before you arrive. He hasn't been subjected to the same things I was, with no scientists here to experiment on him, so he's in good fighting shape."

Sam glanced to Jack and got a brief nod in response. Sitting down next to Megan, Sam started questioning Jim on what he saw in the room, then talked him through the procedure to get into the door controls in the wall and override the lock. Since they didn't want him out roaming the halls until they were a little closer to provide back-up, Sam just told him the final step, but asked him to hold off until Megan gave him the signal. Nodding to Jack, Sam indicated that Jim would be ready when they needed him to start working his way out to meet them. Deciding that they had all of the information they needed, Jack stood up, gesturing for everyone to gather together.

Jack went over the layout of the clearing for everyone, pointing out what they'd seen and going over the details once more of who was supposed to be where. He made eye contact with Megan. "The outcropping is right where we were told, at the southwestern corner of the clearing. I want you there watching for us before we move in." Megan gave a brisk nod, her gratitude at being allowed to stay clear in her eyes. Jack looked around at the team, meeting their eyes one at a time, making sure each person was clear on their role and ready to do the job they had come to do. When he was satisfied, he clapped his hands together. "OK. Let's move out." Once everyone put on their night vision goggles, Jack and Teal'c took point, leading the teams into the woods around the gate.

They were all careful to follow exactly where Jack led, and at his hand signal, Daniel, Megan and Katie peeled off toward the outcropping. Megan took off her night vision goggles, explaining that she had better peripheral vision without them, and could see well enough in the light provided by the two moons. Daniel found himself following Megan, rather than taking the lead, but if one of them were going to find any trip wires in the dark, it would be the Sentinel in the group. He couldn't help but notice how easily the two women moved in the dark. For being civilians, they certainly seemed to know what they were doing. It occurred to him that their training and experience might very well have honed them into soldiers the same way his experiences made him comfortable in this situation. They reached the outcropping with no difficulty and stretched out on the top, overlooking the clearing.

The ease Megan showed in setting up her sniper rifle on its tripod surprised Daniel. "Are you sure you've never done this before?" he asked quietly, glancing aside at her as she watched over the clearing below.

"I've been very well trained in how to use the weapons. I can honestly say that I've never done the whole sniper thing before, though," Megan responded absently. Her attention was focused on keeping an eye out for any movement, not on Daniel. "It's not usually in my job description." She tilted her head to look briefly at him. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention that to the colonel, though. I don't want him thinking he has a novice on the team."

Daniel chuckled and couldn't help thinking that Jack knew very well they weren't experienced soldiers, no matter what they claimed, and that's why they were up here on the bluff and not part of the team in the clearing. Megan shifted her eyes to glance at him and a brief grin flickered across her face before she turned her attention back to the clearing before them. Her features tightened and she nodded down toward the tree line. "Movement. It's our guys."

Daniel turned his attention back to the mission as well, using his night vision goggles to watch as the SG teams went to work. Since their people were beginning to move on the clearing, it meant that they had already neutralized the guards on patrol. He watched as two separate groups moved into the clearing, one heading toward the metal building and the smaller group toward the cargo ship.

"Jim's out of his cell and on the move," Megan reported. "I gave him the go-ahead as soon as I saw Colonel O'Neill's signal." Her eyes kept moving, scanning the clearing, and watching as the two teams moved forward.

When both women suddenly stiffened, Daniel's eyes darted around the clearing, searching for signs of trouble. When he didn't see anything out of the expected, he glanced aside at them. "What's wrong?"

Katie answered while Megan kept watch. "Jim has encountered one of the guards. They're fighting." She shrugged, trying not to show how worried she was. "We're all kind of tuned into each other right now."

"No, Jim!" Megan hissed suddenly. "Don't shoot him more than once!" She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. "Because a second shot kills, and I didn't think you wanted him dead… Tie him up or something… I don't know, find something. I'd suggest your shoelaces, but having your shoes fall off and trip you in the middle of a rescue would be undignified, at the very least."

Daniel glanced aside at Megan, then over to Katie, who was grinning. "They act like siblings most of the time," Katie explained.

Shaking his head, Daniel spoke again. "It's not so much what she's saying, as the fact that he's still in that cargo ship and you guys aren't using radios. It's a bit odd, that's all."

Katie seemed to be having a hard time holding back laughter. "A bit odd. Well, we've been called worse."

"I didn't mean it that way," Daniel protested, keeping an eye fixed on the progress of the mission as they spoke.

"Jim's at the door, Daniel, and needs to know how to operate the controls." Megan had ignored the byplay between Katie and Daniel, doing her best to follow both the teams that she could see and Jim's progress. Daniel did his best to talk Jim through the process with Megan and Katie relaying messages back and forth. "OK, he's out," she finally said, "and Blair is on his way." She glanced over to the team just entering the building.

She tilted her head to the side and stared hard into the trees on the other side of the building. "Movement," she murmured. "There shouldn't be anyone there." A second after she spoke, the radios burst to life.

"The building is empty," Sam's voice reported. "Repeat, there are no hostiles inside."

Megan grabbed the thermal night vision goggles and hurriedly put them on, looking to where she had seen the movement. Grabbing her radio, she spoke to warn the teams. "Six hostiles in the woods ten degrees East of North." She scanned the rest of the clearing. "Three more closing in on the cargo ship, due straight West."

"It's an ambush," Jack's voice came over the radio. "We have the hostage. All teams fall back. Fall back."

Megan let the radio fall to her side and put her eye to the scope of the rifle. Daniel switched his goggles to a thermal view and tried to watch both of their teams retreat back toward the gate. It was harder to tell in the infrared who was who, but reckoned that the forms moving out of the woods were the hostiles. He saw one of the forms draw an arm back as if to throw something, and grabbed his radio in order to warn Sam and her team.

Before he could get a word out, however, the object was sailing through the air toward Sam, Teal'c and SG-7. Megan pulled the trigger of the rifle, and a second later, a bullet impacted the object in mid-air. The result was a flash of light as bright as day and a horrible screeching that had everyone in the vicinity on the ground with their hands over their ears.

Daniel let out a whistle. "Nice shot," he said admiringly. The bluff was far enough away that the Goa'uld stun grenade was merely an impressive explosion, but not enough to bother him. He turned to find Megan curled up with her hands over her ears. "Uh, oh," Daniel said, reaching out a hand toward Megan as Katie put a hand on Megan's shoulder.

"Dammit," Megan said, uncurling herself and pulling off the goggles, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I wasn't expecting that." She reached for the rifle as gunfire echoed from the clearing. "I'm all right," she insisted, brushing Daniel's hand away as she peered through the scope. Daniel looked back at the enemy soldiers, knowing he was too far away to trust his aim. He watched as Megan fired once, twice, and three times. For each shot, one of the soldiers fell, but Daniel noticed that they were moving after hitting the ground, so she didn't seem to be shooting to kill.

After that, the SG members took control, taking out one of the hostiles before the other two surrendered. Seeing that the teams by the building had things under control, Daniel looked over to check on Jack and the team by the ship. He could see three figures sitting on the ground, presumably tied up, with three others standing guard. "Uh, oh. That doesn't look good," he said, seeing another figure lying on the ground with two others hunched over him.

Hearing his comment, Megan and Katie turned their attention to where he was looking. Megan's brow crinkled in concern as she focused her vision across the clearing. "Blair?" she asked. "Who's hurt?" Her eyes widened at the response, and she gave the clearing another look. "Yeah, everything seems to be under control. I'm on my way." She quickly set about packing up and switching on the safety of her rifle, then swung the equipment easily over her shoulder as she stood. She grabbed her handgun from her leg holster and held it in a two handed grip. "Come on," she gestured for Katie and Daniel to join her, and they scrambled quickly to their feet, hurrying to keep up with her as she set off down the rise at a rapid pace.


	11. Chapter 11

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Chapter Eleven

"What's going on?" Daniel asked, as he hurried to keep up with a Sentinel who could see much better in the dark than he could. "Who's hurt?"

"Colonel O'Neill," Katie answered. She picked up answering his questions while Megan led the way across the clearing. "The blast from that thing knocked Jim out of it for a bit and Blair was helping him find his way out of the overload when the gunfire started. One of them was apparently targeting Blair and the colonel stepped in front of him. O'Neill was hit in the leg."

"That sounds like Jack," Daniel muttered, picking up the pace.

By the time they reached the position of the downed man, only Jack, Blair and an unfamiliar man who could only be Detective Ellison remained. The detective was kneeling down beside Jack, apparently treating his injury. Megan and Detective Ellison gave each other once-overs before Megan knelt at Jack's side, holstering her gun as she did. Daniel saw Katie give her husband a quick one-armed hug before she knelt near Jack's shoulders.

"Where's everyone else?" Megan asked.

"I suggested they take the captives to the ship," Jim said with a shrug. "Seemed a shame to leave that cell unoccupied."

Daniel crouched down beside Jack across from Megan. "I leave you alone for one mission, and look what happens."

Jack glared up at Daniel. "I'm fine, Daniel. They just got me in the leg. I've had much worse. Ellison here said it was just a flesh wound." He tried to sit up, but found himself held down by Daniel, Megan and Katie.

"I lied," Jim said, gesturing for Katie to keep the colonel down. "I told the others that the leg would be fine after it stopped bleeding."

"You lied?" Jack asked, struggling against Katie's hold, then fell back with a grimace at the pain. "Why?" he hissed out through gritted teeth.

"Because I know how stubborn Megan can be," Jim answered cryptically.

Megan ignored Jim's comments and glanced over at the detective. "How bad is it, Jim?"

"It's a through and through," Jim answered, his hand on a piece of cloth tied around Jack's leg. "It missed the artery, or he would have bled out already. But I've had trouble stemming the bleeding. The sooner we can treat that wound, the better." Jim gave her a significant look that Daniel didn't quite understand.

"What do you intend to do?" Daniel asked. "We're not exactly in a good place to treat an injury. Why don't you just move him to the ship? We can get everyone loaded and fly the ship to the gate. You wouldn't even have to move him far."

Megan just ignored him and started unwrapping the cloth around Jack's leg.

"What are you doing?" Jack asked. "I know enough about treating gunshot wounds to know that you're supposed to keep pressure on it." He reached down to try to keep her away from his leg.

"I need to get a look at it," Megan insisted, batting his hands away. "Just trust me, all right? You kept my husband from being shot. I'm not about to put you in any danger." Once she had the wound unwrapped, she ripped the pants leg further to expose his leg. "It doesn't look too bad," she said, examining the injury. "But you're right," she added, looking back at Jim. "It doesn't seem to want to stop bleeding." She took a deep breath and placed her hands over the entrance and exit wounds, then lowered her head, closing her eyes. For a long moment, it seemed as if nothing was happening, but then Megan slumped backward, with Jim moving quickly to catch her.

"What just happened?" Daniel asked, looking from one person to the other. "Megan, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she answered, but her voice seemed weaker than it had a moment ago. "Just tired." Blair moved in to take her from Jim. She leaned back against him and closed her eyes as she rested her head on his shoulder.

Jack sat up slowly, staring in wonder at his leg. "Uh, Daniel?"

Daniel looked at Jack, then followed his gaze to find no sign of an injury. "Huh." For a moment, Daniel just stared, not knowing what to say. He finally looked back at Megan. "You healed him?"

She just shrugged one shoulder tiredly. "It wasn't that bad of an injury."

"That's true," the detective replied, narrowing his eyes as he looked at Megan. "You shouldn't be this tired." He reached forward and placed a hand on her forehead, which she batted away, opening her eyes and glaring at him. "You look like crap. What were you thinking, coming on this mission?"

Daniel opened his mouth to defend her, but she beat him to the punch. "Why, Jim. You certainly know just what to say to make a girl feel loved, don't you?"

A wry grin crossed Jim's face as he sat down beside her and Blair, reaching out to squeeze her arm. "It's good to have you back, squirt."

"Ditto, Jim. And how could I not come along? You would have done the same for me, and you know it." She sighed as she closed her eyes for a moment. "Though I have to say that when we get home, I'm sleeping for a week."

"I think we can arrange that," Blair said softly, resting his cheek on the top of her head.

Daniel ignored their conversation, his mind still reeling. "So you can heal people?" he asked again.

"It's something we'd rather no one find out," Katie said. "So if you wouldn't mind keeping this just among us?"

"And how do we do that?" Jack asked, flexing his leg to test his movement and lack of pain. "There were several others who saw me get shot."

"Which is why I told them you'd be fine," Jim said, rising to his feet. "Just wrap the rag around your leg and limp a little."

"That won't work for Doctor Frasier," Daniel pointed out.

"She knows all about me," Megan answered sleepily. "She'll keep the secret."

"Good enough," Jack said, standing up. Katie and Daniel followed, but Blair and Megan stayed seated. Jack grabbed his radio. "Carter, what's your status?"

Sam's voice came over the radio. "We have six prisoners, only two without injuries, and Markham is down. He's not hurt badly, but he's not mobile. Sir, we're not going to be able to make it back to the gate with this number of wounded."

"We won't have to," Jack answered. We're taking the ship to the gate. Just hold your position, we'll be there to help you in a moment."

Megan started trying to get to her feet, a determined expression on her weary face. "Oh, no you don't," Jim said. "Megan, we have this. We gave you one, but you don't have the energy to help anyone else. You're exhausted. I was an army medic and Katie has a nursing degree. I think we've got it covered." He looked down at his guide. "Sandburg, take her back to the ship and make sure she rests."

Daniel watched Megan warily, waiting for the explosion at the detective giving out orders. She glared at Jim for a moment, then slumped back against Blair. "I hate to admit it, but you're right. I don't think I could help out much at all right now." Megan let Blair help her to her feet and tow her over to the ship.

Jack led the way over to join the rest of their team. Daniel helped treat several gunshot injuries and transport the wounded over to the ship once everyone had been treated. He was impressed with the skill Detective Ellison and his wife showed when treating those who had been hurt. When all of the prisoners were placed in the hold of the cargo ship under guard, Teal'c flew the ship the short distance to the gate. Jack had SG teams three and seven escort the prisoners through the gate while Blair and Katie tried to help Megan and Jim prepare for their trip back through the gate.

Seeing how exhausted Megan was, Daniel worried about how she would react to gate travel. The trip here had overloaded her and she had been in much better shape at that point. Apparently, Jack had the same concerns about both of the Sentinels.

"Teal'c, stick close to Detective Ellison. Daniel, do the same with Mrs. Sandburg. Detective Sandburg, let us know when you're ready to go through."

Blair touched Jim's arm in question and got a nod in reply. When he looked at Katie, she nodded back to him to indicate Megan was ready. Daniel stepped closer to Megan and noticed that she seemed as if she were in some sort of trance. "Megan?" he asked. There was no response and he looked to Katie. "We're going to try a meditative trance this time. We just need to blind her to her surroundings and hopefully it won't bother her as much stepping through."

"Let's hope it works," Daniel said. Katie took one of Megan's arms and gestured for Daniel to take the other. They started forward, stepping through the gate together, tugging Megan through with them. The moment they found themselves in the Gate room, Megan slumped between them, completely limp.

"Damn it!" Katie muttered. "We need to pull her further away from the gate so I can start working with her." Daniel pulled Megan's arm over his shoulder and supported most of her weight while Katie led the way down the ramp. Once Daniel lowered Megan to the floor, Katie knelt down at her side, placing one hand on Megan's forehead and the other at the base of her throat. She was so focused on reviving Megan that she didn't even glance up as Blair, Jim and Teal'c came through the gate, with Jack and Sam right on their heels.

Jim staggered between Teal'c and Blair, falling to his knees as he clamped his hands over his ears, squeezing his eyes shut. Blair crouched down beside him, hand on Jim's arm, and after a minute, Jim relaxed, slumping to sit on the floor, propping his arms on his knees and dropping his head on his arms. Daniel was too far away to hear what Jim and Blair were saying, but it was obvious that Jim was moving under his own power. It hadn't taken him too long to recover from the gate travel, but it was obvious from his reaction that Sentinels were not meant for Stargate travel. Megan, who had been in worse shape to start with, was taking much longer to come out of it.

The medical team was approaching them when Megan stirred and raised a hand to cover her eyes. "Not again," she muttered. Dr. Frasier knelt down beside Megan and took a wrist in her hand to check her pulse rate. "I'll be fine," Megan said softly, without moving her hand from her eyes. "I just need a few hours of sleep."

Dr. Frasier gestured to the med team to bring over the gurney. "Once we get you checked out, I'll let you go back to your room for that sleep, all right?" She and Katie helped pull Megan to her feet, then up onto the gurney for the trip to the infirmary. With a gesture, she sent the medical team to the infirmary, taking Megan and Katie with them. After they left, she made her way over to where Jim and Blair were walking down the ramp.

She met them at the base of the ramp, holding her hand out to the detective. "Hello, Detective Ellison. I'm Dr. Frasier, chief medical officer of the base. Since I've seen Mrs. Sandburg's reaction to gate travel, I'd like to ask how you're doing."

Jim shook her hand, then shrugged. "I'll admit that the gate packs a hell of a punch, but I'm doing fine."

"Maybe so, but I'd still like to check you out before I clear you," Dr. Frasier said. "That bruise on your face indicates you've had a rather rough time." She reached out and snagged Jack's jacket as he started to walk past her. "And you as well, Colonel. That bloody rag on your leg tells me that you didn't get through the mission scot-free, either. You're not going anywhere until I check that leg."

"I'm fine," Jack protested, tugging his jacket away from Janet. "It's not even a scratch. Just ask the detective, he treated me. And he was a medic in the army, he knows what he's doing. Ellison, you can vouch for me. I'm perfectly fine. Tell her."

Jim gave the colonel a wry grin. "She just met me, Colonel, I doubt she'll take my word for it. But if it counts for anything, he's right. His leg is perfectly fine. As long as he's up to date on his tetanus shot, there should be no problem."

"Why don't you let me be the judge of that?" Janet said, gesturing toward the hallway. "If you'll follow me, gentlemen?"

Jack and the detective gave each other a long-suffering grimace, and Daniel couldn't help but note how well they seemed to be getting along for having just met. But then, they did have a lot in common. It only made sense that they'd hit it off. Daniel and Blair fell into step behind the others.

By the time they reached the infirmary, Megan was curled up in a bed, sound asleep. Katie stood from her chair the moment she saw them enter, and walked into Jim's arms. He hugged her to him for a long moment before she drew back.

"Are you all right?" Katie asked him, a hand on his arm. "I didn't get a chance to ask earlier." She looked him over carefully, checking for any signs of injury, frowning at the bruise across his cheek. Taking his hand, she traced the abrasions on his wrist. "Handcuffs?"

"Only at first," Jim said. He took her hand in his. "I'm fine, Kat. The bruise was from an escape attempt the first day. I didn't get far before being shot with one of those snake looking stun gun things. The rest of the time, it was a pretty boring captivity actually. Once we reached their base and found it abandoned, they had other concerns and didn't seem to know what to do with me. Other than delivering MRE's for meals, I barely saw them. Don't worry. I really am fine."

"Even after the Stargate?" Katie asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jim rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not volunteering for a repeat trip, but I survived it. I can't explain it, but it's like I could feel my body pulling apart." He shook his head to dispel the memory. "Very unpleasant sensation."

"You could feel the wormhole de-molecularizing you?" Dr. Frasier asked in amazement. "We've had a lot of people travel through the gate and while some do find it disorienting, no one has ever described it that way."

Looking at her as if he'd forgotten he and Katie weren't alone, Jim shrugged. "Like I said, it was hard to explain, but that's the closest I can come."

"It must be a Sentinel thing," Blair mused. "It hit Megan pretty hard as well. The two of you are just more sensitive to your surroundings and the working of your bodies. Wow, I'd love to research this, but how in the world would I go about it?"

"Oh, no you don't Sandburg," Jim said, raising his hands in protest. "You're not doing any tests on me. I'm not about to step back through that thing just to satisfy your scientific curiosity."

Jack chuckled from where he was leaning back against one of the beds. "So you have to deal with curious scientists with their heads in the clouds, too?"

Glancing over, Jim crossed his arms and regarded the other man with a faint smile. "I take it you're not overly fond of scientists?"

With a sidelong look at Daniel, Jack shrugged his shoulders. "I've gotten used to them. There are two of them on my team, but I've got to admit that it's sometimes difficult keeping them on task when something catches their attention."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Jack… Come on, we're not that bad."

"Daniel, how many times have I told you not to touch anything? When your curiosity kicks in, what little common sense you have goes right out the window! And don't try to deny it." Jack pointed a finger a Daniel, emphasizing his point.

"OK, I'm going to call a halt to this," Dr. Frasier interposed herself between Daniel and Jack. "Now, Colonel, I need to examine your leg. Detective, I'll get to you in a moment."

"No hurry," Jim said, stepping back and pulling over a chair from a nearby bedside.

Jack reluctantly walked over to sit on the edge of the bed indicated by Dr. Frasier. While she unwrapped the cloth around his leg, Blair moved over and closed the door, making sure there was no chance of others overhearing them. Janet removed the rag and pushed aside the shredded remains of his BDU's. She wiped away the dried blood and stared in amazement at the unblemished skin revealed there.

"How am I finding blood and no injury?" she asked, narrowing her eyes as she stared him down. Jack shifted uncomfortably under her gaze, not answering.

Katie sighed and spoke up, taking the pressure off of Jack. "I trust you'll keep anything we say completely off the record? I want no written record of this anywhere."

Dr. Frasier looked at Katie in surprise. "This has to do with Megan?"

"Yeah," Katie answered. "If you don't mind, I think we'll just leave it at that. No offense, but there are some things you don't need to know."

Janet looked back at the sleeping figure in the bed. "Maybe so, but right now, she's still my patient. If there's something I need to know to treat her, I would appreciate being informed. Does her current condition have anything to do with that?" She gestured toward Jack's leg.

Letting out a breath in a huff of frustration, Katie hung her head. "Fine. As long as this does not make it into her medical record." She pulled up a chair and sat down next to Jim, reaching over to take hold of his hand. "Yes, Megan can heal injuries. It depends on the severity of the injury, of course. She gives her own strength and energy to the person she's healing. Considering that she wasn't in great shape to start with, healing even an uncomplicated gunshot wound was enough to exhaust her, and she couldn't control her reaction to the gate well enough. She'll be fine after a good night's sleep and a few good meals."

Jim squeezed her hand, picking up on the tension in her voice and looking over to Blair. "How bad was it, Chief? I know Megan insisted she was fine, but that's quite obviously a lie."

Blair swallowed and looked away, fixing his gaze on his wife. "It wasn't good, Jim. She hasn't told me everything, but she was in pretty rough shape. We were all so focused on getting you back, with her pushing as hard as anyone, that we didn't take time to deal with it yet. I have a feeling that once we get home and she can relax and let go…"

Visibly forcing himself to unclench his jaw, Jim took a deep breath. "We'll help her through it, Chief. She's not going to face this alone, and neither are you."

"Thanks, Jim." Blair nodded at his partner. He perched on the edge of the bed and lightly touched Megan's hand. "Doctor, can I take her back to our room? It's been a long day."

"In just a moment," she replied. "I still have to check over your partner, and I figured you'd want to stick around for that." Getting a nod of agreement, she patted the table Jack had recently vacated and quickly took Jim's vitals and a vial of blood, just to check for any foreign substances. She gave him the same thorough, but quick exam that she would give to any SG personnel who had recently been rescued from captivity. They'd learned not to take anything for granted. Once the exam was complete, Janet woke Megan up to check her vitals once more, then released them all to head to their rooms for the night. Jim and Blair supported a sleepy Megan as they walked down the hallway.


	12. Epilogue

Stargate/Sentinel crossover

Title: Past, Present, Prologue

Author: MistyC

Rating: PG-13 for some mild language and battle violence

Summary: While raiding an NID base, the members of SG-1 discover an unusual captive, the subject of experimentation and research.

Author's Note: Since I'm a long-time fan of the works of Cindy Combs, I obtained permission to use her idea of MacGyver as Blair's father for my stories. Since MacGyver and Jack O'Neill were both played by Richard Dean Anderson, there will obviously be a physical resemblance between the characters that I have included in the story. I assume a familiarity with the Stargate premise and characters.

Timeline: This story takes place a couple of years after the last episode of the Sentinel, with Blair working as a detective in the Major Crimes unit as Jim's partner. In the Stargate universe, it takes place in the fourth season. The year is 2001.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Epilogue

As Daniel pulled the car up in front of the building at 852 Prospect in Cascade, Washington, Jack asked a plaintive question from the passenger seat. "Remind me again why we're here, Daniel?"

Daniel chuckled. "Jack, we're here for dinner with friends, not a funeral. A little more enthusiasm might be called for here." When Jack just stared at him, Daniel sighed and gave a more serious answer. "I'm here because it's been three weeks since we saw Blair and the others. I promised Blair that after everything was over, we'd sit down and catch up on everything. We haven't had the chance yet. And I'd like to make sure they're all doing all right. You're here because they're your family and you need to get to know them."

"Family, Daniel? Mac and I are pretty distantly related. It's not like we've ever been that close. Maybe every few years we'd get together and go to a cabin in the woods for a few days. He loves camping and fishing, so we get along well enough. He understands that there are parts of my job I can't talk about because his work is the same way. We both like hockey. It works. But I don't know how I feel about his son and daughter-in-law being my family."

"You took a bullet for Blair," Daniel said. "At the very least, let them use this dinner as a chance to say thank you. Whether or not you consider them family, can't you at least spend one evening with them?"

Jack sighed. "Daniel, they already thanked me by having Megan heal the bullet wound."

Narrowing his eyes, Daniel gazed at Jack. "Is that what's bothering you? That they can do things 'normal' people can't?"

"Don't start, Daniel," Jack warned. "I do not have any prejudice toward them. With the things we've run into over the years, their abilities are only slightly unusual. It's not that at all. I just don't think we have anything in common. I don't have much family, Daniel. I don't know…"

"But you've already met them, Jack. You've even gone on a mission with them. I think you'll find you have more in common with them than you think. And hey, Jim will be there. You can always talk to him."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Fine, let's go in, then. The sooner we get started, the sooner this evening is finished."

Hiding his grin, Daniel turned to get out of the car. Jack's tone of voice showed that he wasn't as upset about the dinner as he pretended. Nervous maybe, but not overly upset. Daniel led the way into the building and they took the elevator to the third floor, knocking on the door of apartment 307.

When the door opened, Daniel stared in shock at the man in the doorway. He glanced aside to make sure Jack was still standing beside him, then looked back to his look-alike in the door. Well, the man in the doorway had longer hair and a wide smile on his face, but other than that, he could have passed for the colonel.

"Mac!" Jack grinned, leaning in past Daniel to grip the man's arm in a friendly grip. The man pulled Jack in for a quick hug, then released him. "I didn't realize you were in town. Last I heard, you were incommunicado."

MacGyver opened the door and gestured them into the loft apartment, closing the door behind them. "Yeah, I was on an assignment. Things went a little crazy, as usual, and I wasn't able to keep in contact. Once I got home, I found out what had happened here. I decided it would be a good time for an extended visit."

Jack frowned at his cousin's words. "Just how much did they tell you?"

MacGyver held up a hand. "Don't worry, Jack. They didn't tell me anything without the proper clearances. I started pushing for the full story, but through the proper channels. All the necessary paperwork has been filled out, non-disclosure forms and all. They, and you, are free to talk."

Visibly relaxing, Jack gave his look-alike a grin. "Good, I hated to think we were going to have a security problem with your family."

"With them? Hardly. Secrets are a way of life for them." Mac chuckled and turned his attention to Daniel, holding out his hand. "And you must be Daniel Jackson. Blair has told me a lot about you."

"Don't believe everything you hear," Daniel said, reaching out to shake the man's hand. "Man, looking at the two of you, I can understand why Blair kept giving Jack odd looks. And you say you're only distantly related? You could be twins!"

Mac chuckled. "Let's just say that we managed to confuse quite a few people when we worked together. It was only one assignment, but people kept confusing us."

"I can believe it," Daniel replied. He looked around in interest at the apartment. He waved at Blair, who was busy fixing dinner in the kitchen with Katie. The open feel of the loft suited what he knew of Jim, and the view of the city from the windows was fantastic. Megan and Jim were in the living room, Jim on the sofa, and Megan in a recliner, holding a baby.

Mac noticed where his gaze was focused and waved a hand toward the living room. "Come on in. Jack, I'd like to introduce you to my grandson." He led them over to where Megan was sitting, and held his arms out with a questioning look on his face.

Megan smiled, passing the child up to him. "You just can't get enough of him, can you? You're going to spoil him, you know."

"That's what proud grandparents do," Mac said. He turned to Jack with the baby cradled in his arms. "Jack, this is my grandson, Chris. Chris, this is Jack. He's really a cousin somewhere down the line, but you can call him Uncle Jack. Well, once you learn to talk, anyway."

Jack rolled his eyes and reached out to let the baby grab his finger. "You're going to have a very interesting life, little one. Mac will make sure of that."

Daniel watched as the two look-alikes played with the baby, and glanced down at Megan to find her watching them with a look of fond amusement. She caught Daniel's glance and grinned up at him. "Chris has Mac wrapped around his little fingers… all of his tiny fingers."

"I heard that," Mac said, not looking around at Megan. "I didn't get to see my sons grow up. I'm not about to miss out on Chris' life."

Megan stood up and reached around her father-in-law to touch Chris' head. "Since I know he's in good hands, I think I'll go see if Blair and Katie need any help in the kitchen. Please, make yourselves comfortable," she said, gesturing toward the seats in the living room.

Daniel took the chair Megan had just vacated, and Jack and MacGyver took seats on the sofa with Jim. The two cousins immediately started catching up on each other's lives over the past few years, with Jack asking how Mac managed to have a thirty plus year old son that he didn't know about.

Only a few minutes passed before Jim chuckled and shook his head. At Daniel's questioning look, Jim tilted his head toward the kitchen. "I'm being summoned to help out. Apparently, since the loft is my home, they think I should be helping, not sitting around with the guests." Standing, he nodded at the men in the living room. "If you'll excuse me."

Daniel found himself quite content to simply sit back and watch the life and movement around him, taking the role of observer. Jim made his way over to the kitchen and took the stack of plates that Katie handed him, setting the table without complaint. The kitchen was small, but the four of them worked well together in the small space, never bumping into each other or seeming to get in the other's way. He could see that the four of them were an effective team, always knowing what the others needed or intended to do. If they could get past the little problem of Sentinels and Stargate travel not mixing, they would make a fantastic SG team. He knew of teams who, even after years of working together, never fused into the kind of effortless cooperation that he saw in front of him. And they had already showed that they could handle the dangers inherent in off-world travel. He knew the military would jump through hoops to have two Sentinels at their disposal.

Then his gaze shifted back to the baby in MacGyver's arms and he realized he would do anything in his power to keep anyone from trying to recruit these four into the SG program or any other dangerous front-line type of missions. They had settled down and started families. Even though they had not chosen safe professions, he doubted the four of them were often out in the field together. He knew very well that if anything happened to any one of them, the other three would help each other cope with the loss and be sure to take care of Chris and any future children. Putting the four of them on an SG team would be too risky. Entire teams had been lost in the past, and if that happened, who would take care of the children? No, Daniel would fight to keep that from happening. Blair had finally found everything he had spent his whole life searching for, and Daniel wanted to make sure that nothing happened to take it away from him.

Lost in his thoughts as he was, he started in surprise when Jim walked back into the room. "Well, gentlemen, dinner is served, if you'd care to join us."

Daniel followed the others to the table, shaking off the introspective moment and allowing himself to be drawn into the chatter at the table. When Jim started questioning him about Blair's earlier life, Daniel readily obliged him and shared stories about things he and Blair had gotten involved in years ago. He found that Jim was hardly the only one interested in his tales. MacGyver and Megan were also paying close attention. One story told led to another and another, and soon, everyone was sharing tales about each other, and to Daniel's chagrin, even Jack jumped in and shared a few of their adventures. That led to no small amount of embarrassment on Daniel's part as Jack seemed to relish in telling all about Daniel's misadventures on other worlds. Daniel thought it quite funny that Jack was suddenly so talkative when he had been concerned earlier that they would have nothing in common to talk about. All in all, though, Daniel considered the dinner to be quite a success.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

Daniel took a sip of his tepid beer and laughed softly as Blair finished telling about his adventures on an expedition years earlier. He stretched and settled back into the loveseat, placing the bottle back down on the floor. The room was quiet, but for the two of them, with everyone else having retired to their beds hours ago. The fire in the wood stove had now burned down to embers, leaving only a faint glow to light the otherwise dark living room.

"I told you to be careful when interacting with other cultures, Blair," Daniel said, still chuckling. "You almost ended up taking home a wife."

"Don't I know it," Blair said, leaning back against the chair behind him. "But that was one of my early experiences. Trust me, I learned from that one."

"I should hope so," Daniel said, shaking his head. His thoughts turned to his own adventure on Abydos and meeting Sha're. The laughter faded as the memory of his beloved filled his mind.

Blair caught the change of Daniel's mood and leaned forward from where he sat on the floor and crossed his arms on the coffee table. "What's up, Daniel?"

"I was just thinking that I didn't exactly follow my own advice." He leaned against the back of the loveseat and brought one leg up to rest on the seat, resting his arm across his knee. "When I arrived on Abydos, the people thought I was a god, or at least a messenger of the god Ra. Kasuf, the tribal leader, sent his daughter to me, to be my wife."

"What did you do?" Blair asked him, his expression full of the curiosity Daniel had always associated with the younger man.

"I started to turn her down, but when I tried to usher her out of the tent, everyone in the area thought I was unpleased with her. I couldn't let them think badly of her, so I allowed her to stay. Before the end of our time there, we had fallen in love. When Jack and the others came back here, I stayed behind with her."

Blair's expression changed to one of understanding. "Will you tell me about her?" he asked softly, encouraging.

Daniel glanced over to the sofa, where Jack was stretched out, sound asleep. Jack wasn't exactly the touchy-feely type of person. Daniel knew that if he had ever approached Jack and said he wanted to talk about Sha're, Jack would have done his best to listen. It went along with seeing to the well-being of his team, but Jack would have been extremely uncomfortable the whole time. Blair, on the other hand, was very empathetic and an excellent listener. If anyone were going to understand his tale, it would be Blair.

Nodding, Daniel let his mind drift back in time to the happiest year of his life. With a soft smile, he began talking. For the first time in a long time, it didn't hurt to speak of Sha're and the life they had together. The fire burned low and darkness settled on the loft, leaving only Daniel's voice.

The end.


End file.
